JAKARTA, May 23, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Tens of thousands of Indonesian military
and police were deployed on the streets of Jakarta Thursday, as a deadline
approached for a presidential challenger to file an appeal over claims of
widespread cheating in last month’s election.
At least seven people were killed — including a 17-year old high school
student — after two nights of rioting in the capital as police clashed with
protesters opposed to the re-election of President Joko Widodo.
The violence has been fanned by claims from Widodo’s rival Prabowo
Subianto, a retired general, that the April 17 poll was a fraud.
Indonesia’s election commission on Tuesday confirmed Widodo had beaten
Subianto, who has until Friday to challenge the results at the Constitutional
Court.
The 67-year-old has appealed for calm and said he would pursue legal
channels, as he did, unsuccessfully, against Widodo in the 2014 election.
Election officials and analysts have discounted Subianto’s claims of
rampant cheating in the world’s third-biggest democracy, after India and the
United States.
Nearly 60,000 security personnel were deployed Thursday, nearly double the
previous number, after Widodo vowed that he “won’t tolerate” more riots.
The government has also partly blocked access to social media — including
Twitter, Facebook and Instagram — in a bid to clamp down on fake news and
hoaxes linked to the violence.
That moves come after fresh skirmishes erupted late Wednesday outside the
election supervisory agency’s office in the heart of the city, with thousands
of protesters chanting and waving Indonesian flags.
Some hurled stones, fireworks and molotov cocktails at riot police who
lined up behind a razor wire barricade near the election supervisory agency
building, where a police post was torched.
Police pushed back the main group of rioters after firing tear gas and
rubber bullets at the demonstrators.
Indonesia’s capital been gripped by bigger demonstrations in the past, but
the level of violence in this week’s clashes has not been seen in years.
Authorities said the violence was orchestrated by people who came to
Jakarta to stir up trouble.
But they’ve given few details about the circumstances of how the seven died
or who was responsible, earlier saying that they had gunshot or blunt force
wounds. Authorities denied firing live rounds into the crowd.
Nine officers had been injured, police said, but they did not give details
of wounded protesters thought to number in the hundreds.
On Thursday, National Police spokesman Muhammad Iqbal said two of about 300
arrested suspects were linked to a hardline organisation that had once
pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
Local media this year speculated about a connection between the founder of
that local organisation and Subianto, after he lent his car to the
politician’s campaign team.
Elsewhere, smaller poll protests were held in Sumatra’s Medan city this
week and in Pontianak on Borneo island, where over 500 demonstrators armed
with stones and firecrackers blocked roads, damaged vehicles and set two
police posts alight, local police said.