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.