“It was surprising and regrettable. Why are flags from a disbanded organization being erected at a polling station?” said a 55-year-old voter who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue.

The woman, who was there with four members of her family, secretly took pictures of the flags and shared them through messaging apps. She added that other voters had also conveyed a similar complaint.

“Organizers didn’t seem to be bothered and I started to question their impartiality,” she said, referring to the fact that HTI members are known supporters of Prabowo Subianto, the sole challenger to incumbent candidate Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in the presidential election.

Muslim groups have repeatedly denied that the Shahada flag belonged to one specific organization.

“The flags have been there [SMK Yasada] for a long time and we don’t think it’s necessary to take them down because they do not carry any political messages,” said local poll administrator (KPPS) chief Ahmad Zakarsih.

The flags were removed later in the afternoon.

“We received an order from the Jakarta Police,” said Hamid, a KPPS member.

Prabowo received 141 votes while Jokowi earned 81 votes at the polling station.

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