C

oordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto praised on Wednesday the largely peaceful presidential election, despite the discovery of a homemade bomb in Aceh and a smattering of election violations in Java and Bali.

'€œWe should be proud that the election went smoothly and peacefully,'€ Djoko said during a teleconference at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta on Wednesday.

In the teleconference, National Police chief Gen. Sutarman reported the discovery of a homemade bomb near a highway connecting the Aceh capital city of Banda Aceh with Medan in North Sumatra.

Aceh Police discovered the roadside explosive on the Medan-Aceh highway at kilometer 84 in Simpang Beutong, Muara Tiga, Pidie regency.

'€œA flag emblazoned with a moon and star was placed on the top of the bomb. Some 50 meters from the location, there was a large tree that had been intentionally cut down to block the road,'€ Sutarman said.

Aceh Police chief Insp. Gen. Husein Hamidi confirmed that the Aceh Police'€™s Gegana bomb-disposal unit had defused the bomb. He also reported an attack at a polling station in Julok, East Aceh, on Tuesday, a day before the election.

'€œThe assailant protested the reappointment of certain individuals as polling committee members before fleeing the scene. We are still pursuing him. He is also a fugitive connected to a case in East Aceh,'€ Husein told the minister and Sutarman.

Meanwhile, Bali Police chief Insp. Gen. Albertus Julius Benny Mokalu reported that an officer in Jembrana regency had caught red-handed a polling committee member, identified as Made, attempting to illegitimately insert extra ballot papers into a voting box.

'€œThe officer, Brig. Gusti, reprimanded Made and asked him why he had added ballot papers. The suspect claimed that he had not voted. Under the recommendation of The Elections Supervisory Agency [Bawaslu], the election process was halted and the ballot boxes were taken by the Jembrana General Elections Commission [KPUD].'€

In Papua, although an armed civilian group had previously threatened to attack military posts in the province, nothing happened on the election day.

'€œIn general, Papua is secure. The threat did not materialize. We applied tight security measures and the group did not have the opportunity to realize their plans,'€ Papua Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw said in Jayapura, Papua, on Wednesday.

However, an incident was reported in Nabire regency, where the rebel group'€™s Bintang Kejora flag was raised in four places, namely at the offices of the Karang Mulia subdistrict head, the Wonorejo subdistrict head, at the Indonesian National Youth Committee (KNPI) offices and outside the State Archives Agency.

Paulus said the flags were taken down at 5 a.m. local time as security forces were patrolling the area.

Santoni of Nabire said that the flags were raised sometime very early in the morning, but that nobody yet knew who was responsible.

'€œMany people decided not to go to the polling stations [TPS] due to the Bintang Kejora flag-raising incident. They were afraid,'€ he said.