Police on full alert as campaign kicks off
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.