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Jakarta Post

Election protests lose steam

Ready for action: Army Strategic Reserves Command members practice rappeling at the National Monument (Monas) in Jakarta on Monday

Karina M. Tehusijarana and Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, May 21, 2019

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Election protests lose steam

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eady for action: Army Strategic Reserves Command members practice rappeling at the National Monument (Monas) in Jakarta on Monday. Security measures have been heightened ahead of the announcement of the results of the presidential election by the General Elections Commission on Wednesday.(Antara/Adam Waluyo)

As government officials and civil society organizations continue to discourage the public from attending a rally in front of the General Elections Commission’s (KPU) headquarters following the planned announcement of the 2019 election results on Wednesday, political parties in presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto’s coalition have distanced themselves from the event.

As of Monday, with over 90 percent of the vote tallies in, the KPU’s official vote-count website puts the Joko “Jokowi” Widodo-Ma’ruf Amin ticket ahead with 55.5 percent of the vote compared to Prabowo-Sandiaga Uno’s 44.5 percent.

Prabowo has claimed that his team found evidence of massive, structured and systematic cheating and said he would reject a “fraudulent” election result. Gerindra Party deputy chairman Fadli Zon has also said the Prabowo camp would not file a petition with the Constitutional Court, leaving them with few other legal options.

Shortly before the election, Prabowo campaign adviser and National Mandate Party (PAN) patron Amien Rais said he would use “people power” if he found systematic election fraud.

While a number of Prabowo-Sandiaga supporters, mostly associated with the conservative Muslim 212 Movement, have announced that they would stage a mass protest in front of the KPU’s headquarters on Wednesday, coalition political parties have been more circumspect.

The Democratic Party, which has been a reluctant coalition member since the candidates were announced last August, guaranteed it would not take part in the demonstrations.

“I guarantee that the Democratic Party will not participate in [the protests],” Democrat secretary-general Hinca Panjaitan said on Monday as quoted by Antara, adding, however, that the party would remain part of Prabowo’s coalition until the official results were announced.

PAN, meanwhile, has shown mixed reactions. Party chairman Zulkifli Hasan has met President Jokowi multiple times since election day and even congratulated vice-presidential candidate Ma’ruf for his apparent victory.

“Congratulations to Pak [Ma’ruf] and Pak Jokowi, of course, we will wait for the official announcement, but the signs can already be seen,” Zulkifli said at an iftar event on Sunday evening.

PAN executive Bara Hasibuan, who has often complimented Jokowi, also called on PAN members to refrain from joining the protests.

“I think all the parties should urge their members not to join such movements, people power or whatever it’s called,” he told reporters on Monday. “In the end, [the protests] will create a big setback for democracy.”

Amien, however, remains firmly in favor of a public protest against the election results, though he has given it a new name: “the people’s sovereignty movement” in place of “people power”.

Zulkifli said the party would only release an official statement on Tuesday.

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has also been less than forthcoming about its official stance, though some of its leaders have signaled that they will accept the KPU’s results.

Party executive Mardani Ali Sera, one of the founders of the vocally anti-Jokowi #2019GantiPresiden (2019ChangePresident) movement, said earlier this month that the hashtag was retired following election day.

When asked about the PKS’s potential involvement, or lack thereof, in Wednesday’s protests, Mardani only said: “The PKS remains in the [Prabowo] coalition and will continue to fight democratically according to prevailing laws and regulations, and always in a constitutional manner.”

Prabowo’s own Gerindra Party has denied direct involvement in the protests, calling it a “movement of the people”.

Meanwhile, the government has claimed that the protests are being targeted for terror attacks.

In addition to arresting terror suspects for planning attacks under the cover of the rallies, the authorities also arrested suspects under the suspicion of attempting to smuggle weapons in relation to the rallies, Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko said.

“The motive must be to create chaos […] they can fire at the crowds to make it as if the gunshot is coming from the security personnel, be it the police or military, which could trigger chaos,” Moeldoko said on Monday.

He went on to say that the government was not trying to scare people off but was relaying verified information to protect people from danger.

Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan echoed Moeldoko’s comments, adding that protesters who crossed the line and committed treason could be arrested.

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