East Java candidates receive terror threats

Iman Dwianto Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

A loud ring breaks the silence, and in a rush Budi S. quickly picks up his phone. As he reads the incoming short message, he quickly becomes worried.

One of the members of the campaign team for a candidate running in the upcoming elections of regional heads in Surabaya had just received what he claimed was veiled threat.

"How much are you getting paid to be an accomplice? Do NOT mess with me!" the message read.

For some time, Budi was stiff with fear.

"I don't know why these kinds of threats are still around," he told The Jakarta Post.

Another message came in. Budi appeared to be relieved to see that it was from his colleague, asking whether Budi received the threatening message.

"Did you get that message? I tried to call the sender back but the phone it came from had already been switched off," his colleague wrote, saying that he was so upset and would not mind a fight if he knew the sender.

Such terror is not only experienced by campaign managers, but also the candidates.

AH Thony, a candidate running for a deputy mayor position in the election alongside Erlangga Satriagung, received a package consisting with dead chicken -- its throat cut -- along with a threatening letter.

The letter said, "you'll experience the same thing as this chicken", recalled Thony, a campaigner for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.

The upcoming regional elections in Surabaya on June 27 have definitely been raising the political temperature in the country's second largest city.

So far, four candidates, and their running mates -- Alisjahban (the National Awakening Party); Bambang Dwi Haryono (Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle); Erlangga Satriagung (National Mandate Party); and Gatot Sudjito (Golkar Party) -- have been announced by the Surabaya Elections Committee as eligible to run.

Thony took the threats in stride, knowing that they are the consequences of working on political campaigns here. Since he started his political career 12 years ago, such terror tactics have become part of his daily routine.

"Such threats are part of a politician's life, as they are so common here," he said, adding that he had prepared himself for many more and harsher threats when he decided to run in these direct elections.

He believes that the election committee, with the assistance of the police, would be able to deal with problems experienced by candidates.

"We have to put our trust in the police personnel. That's why I don't take the terror too seriously," he said.

He added that if he took the threats seriously, those responsible for sending the threats would think that their terror tactics actually work.

Chairman of the Elections Supervising Committee in Surabaya, Mahmud Suhermono, said the committee had acknowledged the emergence of threats towards candidates running for the elections as well as campaign managers.

He said the committee, with police assistance, provided security for each candidate. "Every candidate is guarded by two police officers," Mahmud told the Post.

The police, he said, were taking very stern measures indeed to guarantee the candidates' safety.

"The police guards have been assigned to maintain their safety, if (the threat) is related to the election, serious action will be taken," he claimed.