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Another policeman dies on election security duty
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A medical team from the Lhokseumawe Police in Aceh checks the health of polling station volunteers in Muara Dua district, Lhokseumawe, Aceh, on Wednesday. The checkup was done for all volunteers and officials, including security personnel, district election committees, members of regional elections supervisory committees (Panwaslu) and witnesses following a surge of elections officers who died or fell ill from exhaustion on or following April 17. (Antara/Rahmad)
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The officer, First Insp. Partahian Dalimunthe, died on Thursday after passing out while securing the elections in the district.
Partahian, who regularly was assigned as a traffic officer with the Padang Sidempuan Police, died in the Padang Sidempuan General Hospital at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, North Sumatra Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tatan Dirsan Atmaja said.
“Before his passing, he fainted from exhaustion. He was taken to the hospital, but he couldn’t survive,” he said to reporters at North Sumatra Police headquarters on Thursday.
Partahian’s body had been taken to his family’s house in Sabungan village, Hutaimbaru, for the funeral.
Padang Sidempuan Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Hilman Wijaya said Partahian was known as a policeman very committed to his duties.
North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen Agus Andrianto said he would report the death to National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian for Partahian to get an honorary award for his work.
“We will propose a posthumous promotion, as he died on duty,” he said.
Partahian was among 16 members of the police and at least 144 polling station volunteers who presumably died from exhaustion in what has been dubbed the world’s most complicated elections. On April 17, in the first-ever concurrent presidential and legislative elections, voters casted five ballots for five candidates on a single day, creating a much larger workload for election workers than in previous elections.
