Soldiers distribute ballot boxes in Aceh
By Budiman Moerdijat and Noer Faisal
LHOKSEUMAWE, North Aceh (JP): Heavily armed troops distributed ballot boxes on Sunday to villages here in the final preparations for the polls, amid rumors that fresh violence would break out in the troubled province.
At least 150 army troops in three military trucks were seen escorting another truck carrying hundreds of ballot boxes to the villages, including Krueng Geukueh village, some 15 kilometers west of here, where at least 41 civilian protesters were shot dead by the military during a protest on May 3.
The convoy was seen dropping three ballot boxes in every police subprecinct.
In Jakarta, after a five-hour meeting,the General Elections Commission on Saturday had decided that elections would take place as scheduled in Aceh. The government had indicated a possibility of delay in the volatile regencies of Pide, East Aceh and North Aceh. The election law allows a 30-day delay of the poll. However KPU chairman Rudini said if anything hampered the vote casting the local election committees could immediately contact the hotline of the National Election Committee.
Head of Aceh elections committee Ahmad Farhan Hamid told The Jakarta Post by phone from the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, some 250 kilometers west of here, that the elections will only be held in 10 of the 26 districts in North Aceh because of security concerns.
Ahmad did not mention the names of the districts, but admitted elections in those places could still be canceled at the last moment.
"We still need to assess the security on the ground and our priority is the safety of the residents," Ahmad said.
Violence has been on the rise in Pidie, North Aceh and East Aceh, where groups of unidentified people have been attacking security personnel and setting schools, political party offices and government buildings on fire in recent weeks.
At least three intercity buses were also set on fire in Pidie early on Saturday.
"It is still not clear whether the elections will be held in Pidie, but members of the local elections committee have said they will try to hold the elections there," Ahmad said.
Earlier in the day, members of the local elections committee held a rehearsal for the elections at the regent's office here.
The city streets were deserted on Sunday and only a few shops were seen open for business.
Locals said that shop owners and migrants have fled to the North Sumatra capital of Medan in the last few days.
"My wife and children left for Medan a few days ago as the security here is questionable," head of Lhokseumawe General Hospital Mulya A. Hasjmy told the Post.
Later in the afternoon, some workers were seen setting up five polling booths at General Soedirman square, which is directly in front of the local military headquarters.
This polling station was the only one so far seen in the city.
Calls for a referendum on self-determination and an election boycott have been mounting in Pidie, North Aceh and East Aceh, and have grown stronger since the shootings in Krueng Geukueh.
In the early hours of Saturday, an unidentified group of people set fire to 11 elementary schools in different villages in North Aceh.
According to Alibasyah Budiman, head of North Aceh district's education and culture office, the group started to burn the schools at 4 a.m.
Eight of the school buildings were located in the villages of Alue Ie Mirah, Paya Tukai, Cot Badah, Lhok Reudeup, Lueng Tala, Buket Jeurat Mayang, Matang Sirong and Ulee Glee of Jambo Aye subdistrict, Antara reported
Two others were in Tanah Luas subdistrict, and one other school in Baktia subdistrict.
The incidents brought the total number of school buildings burned in North Aceh district recently to 19, Budiman said.
There has so far been no official report on the total financial losses caused by the fires, but unofficial estimates put the figure at more than Rp 1 billion (US$114,000).
Separately, a police officer and three civilians were seriously wounded on Saturday by a group armed with guns during attacks at two different police offices in Pidie on Saturday.
The precinct chief, Lt. Col. Sirwandi Laut Tawar, said the group, driven in two cars, first stormed the Tringgading police subprecinct by at 4 p.m., wounding Pvt. Lakon.
About two hours later, the same cars were seen in front of the Pidie police precinct office, and shots were fired at the police station.
From Banda Aceh, Antara quoted a coordinator of a poll watch network here, the Rector's Forum, as saying that the situation was not conducive to hold the poll in Aceh.
"The impression is that the election is being imposed here and this is not democratic," Iqbal said Sunday.
The agency reported the resignation of 350 out of 2,380 volunteers of another chapter of a national private poll watch body, the University Network of Free and Fair Elections (Unfrel).
Local coordinator M. Noor Fakhrurazi said this was because of the increasing tense condition in the province.
Unfrel national coordinator Todung Mulya Lubis told The Jakarta Post Sunday that the remainder of Unfrel poll watchers would have to hide their identity cards given continued intimidation and suspicion against them.