Police to safeguard polling stations from intimidation by groups ‘monitoring’ runoff election

The police and military will deploy a joint force of around 65,000 security personnel to safeguard the Jakarta governor runoff election between incumbent Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama and challenger Anies Baswedan on April 19 to prevent any electoral fraud or the escalation of existing tensions.

The police say that one of the main reasons behind the deployment of such a large number of officers is because of widely reported plans that many people are planning to “monitor” Jakarta’s 13,034 polling stations on Election Day, a tactic which police believe would actually be used to intimidate people planning to vote for a certain candidate.

In fact, these so-called monitors could, reportedly, vastly outnumber the authorities. Organized under the name ‘Al Maidah Tour’, which is a reference to the surah in the Quran that Ahok allegedly blasphemed and is on trial for, organizers say they expect 1.3 million people – many of whom are coming from outside of Jakarta – to be deployed to encourage Muslim voters to choose a Muslim candidate (in this case, Anies), and, ironically, to keep an eye out for voting fraud.

The Jakarta Metro Police, along with the General Election Committee (KPU), have issued a public notice banning the mobilization of masses from within or outside of Jakarta on Election Day that could ‘physically or psychologically influence voters”. Furthermore, National Police Chief Tito Karnavian warned that authorities will disperse any crowds at polling stations to prevent voter intimidation.

“Please do not, for whatever reason, lead masses to polling stations, especially if the numbers are large. We will remove them,” Tito said today, as quoted by Detik.

He also instructed regional police heads in Jakarta and the islands of Sumatra and Java to prevent large groups from coming to Jakarta specifically to influence the election.

“Don’t hesitate. If people are leaving to Jakarta to interfere in local Jakarta politics, prevent them and use your discretion,” he said.

Should there be masses of outsiders coming to Jakarta to monitor the runoff election, it wouldn’t be difficult to determine which of the candidates they are representing. In fact, Anies and his political backers have on several occasions urged his supporters to monitor polling stations.