Poll protesters run amok in Bengkulu

Poll protesters run amok in Bengkulu

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Some 10,000 people went on a rampage on Monday in Kaur regency,
Bengkulu province, setting fire to government offices and houses
in the area to express their disappointment with the regental
election result, which elected Syaukani Saleh and Warman Suwardi
as regent and deputy regent.

No one has been arrested for the melee, although the police
have alleged that those who attacked the government offices and
houses were the supporters of the losing candidates in the
election.

Kaur Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Sugeng Utomo was quoted by
Antara as saying the mob came from seven subdistricts: Maje,
Nasal, North Kaur, Central Kaur, South Kaur, Kinal and Tanjung
Kemuning.

These people initially staged a peaceful protest in front of
office of the regental legislative council but the demonstration
ended in violence. The angry protesters attacked and set fire to
the house of the Bengkulu Council head, the Kaur regent's office,
the local office of the general election commission, office of
the Kaur public housing agency and damaged the councillors office
as well as one police patrol car and several other cars parked
near the riot site.

The demonstrators came in 18 trucks, dozens of private cars
and motorcycles and shortly after arriving at the scene, started
to push their way into the Bengkulu Council office.

After they managed to break in, they started to take out
office equipment and ballot papers.

One of the demonstrators said that they initially wanted to
talk to the councillors and members of the Kaur General Election
Commission but did not know why it ended violently.

Other protesters recalled that they had asked the councillors
and the members of the election commission what was going on
during a plenary meeting recently held to officiate the result of
the June 27 regental election, however they heard rumors that the
governing body was not invited to the meeting. The governing body
included the regental government, police and military chiefs and
leaders of the regental council.

"The aim of this protest is to question whether the poll
announcement, which was held in the absence of the governing
body, is in line with the law," one of the demonstrators said.

According to several eyewitness, members of the election
commission fled when they saw the crowd marching toward their
office.

Police officer Sugeng regretted that the government officials
refused to talk with protesters, fueling anger among the
protesters which led to the violent protest.

He said that the police were unable to calm the protesters as
they only had four platoons, whereas there were 10,000
demonstrators.

The post election protest in Bengkulu was not the first in the
country. Protests in the aftermath of regional elections have
taken place in other regions such as in Tanah Toraja, South
Sulawesi, which resulted in the cancellation of the election
result, also in Banyuwangi and Surabaya in East Java and in
Sukoharjo, Central Java.

However, the Bengkulu protest was the most violent to date.
Head of Commission A at Bengkulu Provincial Council Salamun Haris
urged the Bengkulu General Elections Commission to rectify the
problem over the Kaur regental election as Bengkulu was heading
toward selecting a Bengkulu governor and deputy governor.

"We hope that the second election will be conducted safely
without any flaws," Salamun said.

The election for Bengkulu governor and deputy governor will be
held on Oct. 3. The candidates who will contest the election are
Agusrin Mariyono Najamudi/M. Syamlan and Muslihan Diding
Sutrisno/Patice Rio Capella.