Police officers guard candidates

Rusman, The Jakarta Post, Samarinda

Police officers in the regency of Pasir in East Kalimantan, are tightly guarding five candidates for regent as the local election draws near.

"In order to prevent any untoward events, each regent hopeful is being tightly guarded by two plainclothes police officers until polling day in early July," said Aziz Muslim, the chief of Pasir General Election Commission (KPUD), on Tuesday.

The extra security is being given to the five people after they were officially named candidates a week ago. According to Aziz, the extra security is necessary as political candidates normally receive threats during election campaigns. The funding for the bodyguards was allocated from the KPUD budget, said Azis.

The details on the security measures depends on the agreement between the candidates and the police. However, the KPUD asks that all candidates be guarded on a daily basis. "The regent hopefuls have to be guarded 24-7 for their safety during the runup to the election," Aziz reiterated.