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Police ready for any poll result violence
Taking no chances: A terror suspect arrives at the National Police headquarters under tight security in Jakarta on Friday
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aking no chances: A terror suspect arrives at the National Police headquarters under tight security in Jakarta on Friday. Between January and April, 68 terror suspects linked with the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah were arrested.(JP/Seto Wardhana)
The government is anticipating potential trouble ahead of the wrap-up of the official vote tally on May 22, amid reports that supporters of losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto are planning to take to the streets to challenge the election result.
Security officials fear street protests may descend into violence after the discovery of an apparent plot by a local terrorist cell linked to the Islamic State (IS) movement to exploit the situation with an attack, even though analysts have cast doubt on such a scenario materializing.
The National Police have advised the public not to join the planned rally — set to be held at the General Elections Commission (KPU) headquarters in Jakarta — for security reasons, including the possible terrorist attack.
At least 68 terror suspects have been arrested by the police’s antiterrorist squad Densus 88 since January. Among these, a total of 29 suspects were arrested this month alone on suspicion of plotting terror attacks under the cover of rallies on May 22.
National Police spokesperson Insp. Gen. M. Iqbal said the suspects, who were affiliated with homegrown pro-IS Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), planned to attack officers and protesters with firearms and bombs.
“The group could exploit the opportunity of a celebration of democracy,” Iqbal said on Friday, “Therefore, the National Police […] call on people not to take to the streets on May 22 since it will be dangerous.”
The 29 suspects were arrested in separate raids in different cities, including Jakarta; Bekasi and Karawang in West Java; Sragen and Sukoharjo in Central Java, as well as Madiun in East Java. The police also seized explosives during the raids. Nine suspects are believed to be active members of JAD who underwent paramilitary training in Indonesia and abroad, and two suspects allegedly have a history of joining IS in Syria and of being trained in making smoke bombs in Aleppo.
Iqbal described the arrests as “preventive strikes” by the police. “We can’t underestimate them, we do not know whether [JAD] is still operating or not so Densus 88 will continue working,” he said.
Postelection tensions have been escalating since polling day on April 17 with Prabowo and his supporters refusing to concede defeat, claiming that their data show that he won the election.
The former general said he would not accept the vote count by the KPU — which is expected to show that Jokowi was reelected to the presidency — and accused the election organizer of committing “systematic cheating” that benefitted the incumbent. He has also refused to seek arbitration at the Constitutional Court, fueling fears of a long standoff.
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto has contacted regional police chiefs and the chiefs of regional military commands to prevent the mass mobilization of protesters going to Jakarta and has called for people not to join such protests.
“Just stay in your hometown and enjoy Ramadan […] there is no point in coming to Jakarta,” Wiranto said on Friday.
The United States Embassy in Jakarta issued a security alert on Friday, warning its citizens of the “heightened risk of terrorism in connection with the finalization of election results”.
At least 32,000 police and military personnel are set to be deployed in Jakarta to prevent any disruption, particularly the risk of terrorism, on May 22, National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo said.
Analysts, however, have played down the gravity of the situation.
Former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy chief As’ad Said Ali said a huge demonstration on May 22 was unlikely to take place since no political party, including Prabowo’s Gerindra Party, had rejected the legislative election results.
“There may be other supporters who want to stage some protest […] but as long as the security apparatus is prepared, I think everything will remain under control,” he said.
Some key figures behind the planned rally have been investigated by the police, including opposition National Mandate Party (PAN) politician Eggi Sudjana, who has been named a treason suspect, and Kivlan Zein, who has been questioned by the police in relation to Eggi’s case. Bachtiar Nasir, a key figure among Islamists backing Prabowo, is reportedly in Saudi Arabia after being named a suspect in a money-laundering case.
The possibility of a terror attack is also low since the police seem to have foiled the planned attack by the Bekasi-Lampung cell of JAD, said Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) director Sidney Jones.
“Unfortunately, there is always a small chance that another cell has been plotting something similar, so we can’t be complacent,” Jones told The Jakarta Post.
An attack in connection to the election, however, was not improbable, especially since extremists believed that democracy was incompatible with Islam, Jones said, adding that IS had also called on its supporters to attack elections and polling stations in 2016.
“But it’s not clear to me how detonating a bomb amid a crowd of hardliners serves any Islamist goals, so I think we need more information before we can draw conclusions,” she said.
