Experts warn of more violence ahead of and during elections

Experts warn of more violence ahead of and during elections

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Experts have warned of more violence in the run-up and during the
2004 elections and have urged the National Police to go out of
their way to ensure that the whole process proceeds smoothly and
democratically.

Criminologist Mulyana W. Kusuma, deputy chairman of the
General Elections Commission (KPU) Ramlan Surbakti, and National
Police deputy chief for security affairs Insp. Gen. Adang
Daradjatun said on Monday the anticipated unrest was likely due
to new election methods applied for the 2004 elections.

Indonesia will hold its first ever direct presidential
election in 2004.

"There will be many critical events in the run-up and during
elections next year that could threaten the country's security,"
Mulyana said in a training course designed to prepare the police
force for next year's elections.

According to Mulyana, September 2003 and the period between
March and October 2004 are critical periods when social unrest is
likely.

The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights is expected to
announce the result of its party verification to determine which
parties are eligible to contest the election. Parties that are
not eligible are likely to mobilize their supporters to disrupt
the election process.

The campaign period from March to October next year would also
be critical with possible conflict among supporters of political
parties.

According to Mulyana, the most critical period would the
announcement of the results of the presidential election.

"Disappointed supporters could resort to destructive actions,"
he said.

Ramlan, meanwhile, said conflicts were likely to take place in
regions following the announcement of party candidates elected as
local councillors.

Meanwhile, Stanley Aji P. of the Institute for the Studies on
Free Flow of Information (ISAI), Ery Seda of the Center for
Electoral Reform (CETRO) and Topo Santoso of the University of
Indonesia said that police would face difficulties to secure the
election due to their failure to uphold justice in the 1999
election.

"People have a negative impression of police' performance and
the only way to improve their reputation is to uphold the law,"
Ery said.

She was referring to the police's failure to take firm actions
against certain security organizations belonging to political
parties.

Stanley urged the police to disband all security organizations
belonging to political parties. Almost all political parties here
have their own security organizations.

Topo said police must also deal with violations during the
election process as the National Election Monitoring Committee
(Panwas) was only responsible for settling administrative
disputes.

Only five of 236 criminal cases related to the 1999 election
were brought to court. The rest were settled out of court.

Meanwhile, Adang said police personnel have prepared
themselves for the upcoming election despite the severe lack of
personnel and funds to oversee the election across the country.

"We need support from other members of the community to
provide security in the election," he said, saying there are only
some 400,000 police personnel available to oversee the election.