Police on full alert as campaign kicks off
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar ordered police across the country on Wednesday to be on full alert, as the three-week campaign period officially kicks off on Thursday.
Da'i also instructed police in Central Sulawesi, Aceh and Ambon to ready additional personnel to strengthen efforts to secure the campaigning period and legislative election on April 5.
National Police deputy spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko said on Wednesday that at least 5,518 police were sent as reinforcements to Aceh, 800 to Poso and Morowali in Central Sulawesi and 1,002 to Ambon.
Meanwhile, Jakarta Police chief Ins. Gen. Makbul Padmanegara played down on Wednesday possible clashes between supporters of political parties during the campaign period, which will run until April 1.
"Guarding soccer games is more challenging than securing election campaigns as all leaders of political parties have expressed a commitment to holding peaceful campaigns," Makbul said after holding a meeting with party leaders.
Soccer games here are often marked by brawls between supporters of respective soccer teams.
In Surabaya, East Java police announced they had assigned 26,000 officers to secure both the legislative and presidential elections.
East Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Sad Harunantyo said the police had also set up posts to follow up on security complaints during the campaign period.
Yogyakarta Police chief Brig. Gen. Sudirman, meanwhile, said that his officers were ready to maintain peace and order during the campaign period.
Yogyakarta has deployed some 5,000 of its 8,000 personnel.
In Palu, the Central Sulawesi administration announced that it would pay close attention to the four restive areas of Poso, Morowali, Donggali and Tolitoli respectively.
Syafri Alikadir of Central Sulawesi said that previous bloody conflict in the areas had been taken seriously into account by the police and the local administration.
"Tension still exists between local residents. We must be careful," he said.