Violence, death threats, ahead of polls

Suherdjoko and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Semarang/Medan

Concerns about violence ahead of the upcoming legislative and presidential elections have already become a reality in North Sumatra. A party figure in capital city Medan was hospitalized on Saturday, after being stabbed by an unidentified motorist. While members of the local chapter of the General Elections Commission (KPUD) in Demak, Central Java, received death threats last week. Richard Manik, 43, chairman of the Medan branch of the Pioneers' Party (PP) led by Rachmawati Soekarnoputri, is still in intensive care in Medan's Advent Hospital.

Medical workers at the hospital told The Jakarta Post on Sunday, said that the victim, whose condition was unstable, had been stabbed in the lower-back.

The local police said they were yet to determine the motive behind the attack.

Richard's wife Sari Aviani said she could not identify the attackers as the incident had happened very fast.

"My husband was washing the car in front of our house when the two men attacked him. They escaped after stabbing him with a machete," she explained.

Sari mentioned that the weekly tabloid Voice of Independent Workers, which her husband owned, had recently exposed corruption amongst local officials. This, she feared may have been the attackers' motivation.

She could not rule out that the attack had been triggered by the listing of local legislative candidates. She also said, two days before the incident, the terrace of her house had been set ablaze by unidentified parties.

Chairman of PP's local chapter Pieter Manik said he was of the same opinion, that the articles run by the victim's tabloid had probably fueled the attack.

Meanwhile, three members of KPUD in Demak received death threats last Friday, after refusing a political party's list of legislative candidates, which failed to meet administrative requirements.

Debby Rizani, one the three KPUD members, said that the death threats had been made by a legislative candidate and his supporters, who had submitted incomplete documents and been rejected by the KPUD.

"While we remain alert, we have not been intimated by the threats. Also, we have reported the threats to the police." he said. Previously, chairman of the provincial chapter of the General Election Supervisory Board (Panwaslu) Nur Hidayat Sardini, had reported to the police that he had received similar threats made by an unidentified caller to his cell phone.

Sardini received the threats after identifying between 200 and 500 hoodlums and unemployed people to the local media. He suspected that these local people were ready to stir unrest ahead of the general election scheduled for April 5.

Responding to the situation in the province, Central Java Provincial Police chief Insp. Gen. Didi Widayadi said on Sunday that the police had stepped up security for all members of KPUDs and Panwaslu.

"The police are prepared to protect all election agents who are threatened for doing their duty", he said.