T

he city administration suffered losses of Rp 200 million (US$17,133) after parks and gardens near Jl. M.H Thamrin and Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat in Central Jakarta were trampled by hundreds of supporters of losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto who had rallied ahead of the announcement of the Constitutional Court'€™s decision in the presidential election dispute case.

Parks and Cemetery Agency head Nandar Sunandar said on Friday that the damaged gardens were located near the court building, which sits near the Bank Indonesia (BI) traffic circle.

'€œThe plants were trampled and the sprinklers and plant pots were damaged. We are now determining whether we need to replace them or repair them,'€ he said.

Nandar added that given the permanent damage of the plants, losses could reach Rp 200 million.

He said, however, that none of the statues around the streets had been vandalized.

Nandar added that agency officers would immediately begin restoring the damaged parks. '€œWe are now hoeing the land and starting to plant the borders of the gardens,'€
he said.

He added that the agency had deployed six trucks and one water truck to clean, plant and water the plants. '€œThe gardens will become beautiful again today,'€ he said.

Nandar added that his agency used funds from the city budget to repair the gardens. '€œHowever, we will also try to persuade the coordinators of the rallies to take responsibility,'€ he said.

'€œThey are still exhausted, so its better to contact them in a few days,'€ he said.

Nandar added that he had not established how the responsible party would be held to account. '€œIt is more important to repair them [gardens] as they are part of the protocol roads. If they want take responsibility, they can repair other green strips,'€he said.

Hundreds of Prabowo'€™s supporters had been congregating in the area around the court and stages protests beginning during the first trial session on Aug. 6 and lasting until the ruling on Thursday.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said he had ordered the Parks and Cemetery Agency head to send a letter asking those responsible for the damages to take responsibility.

'€œI asked the agency head to send the letter, along with photos as evidence,'€ he said, adding that because the city had repaired the green strips, the protesters could compensate the city in other forms.

Ahok, who is also a Gerindra Party member, said it was the second time groups of Prabowo-supporters had damaged parks.

The deputy governor previously expressed anger when supporters of Prabowo and president-elect Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo damaged parks during campaign events.

Ahok added that he would install more advanced CCTV in parks so that the city administration could identity future perpetrators of park vandalism.

'€œIf we can identify the persons [responsibile], we can bring the case to the police,'€ he said, adding that it remained difficult to identify faces on most CCTV systems.