Anita Rachman – The government body tasked with supervising elections warned on Friday of more riots during the "peak season" for local elections from June to July.
Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) member Bambang Eka Cahya Widodo said money politics and interference with the General Elections Commission (KPU) at the local level could spark protests.
Valina Singka Subekti, a former KPU member and a lecturer at the University of Indonesia, said that with many uneducated and impoverished voters, conflicts could easily turn into riots.
"At the moment, candidates have several new ways of using money politics to attract voters," Bambang said. "Studying the seven riots that have happened so far, I am afraid riots are unavoidable and it might get worse during June and July."
As many as 244 provincial, regional and municipal polls are scheduled for this year. Bambang said 60 regions had held elections so far.
"You might not consider seven riots out of 60 elections a big figure, but it's early days. We have about 120 local elections in June and July and I am very concerned about this."
Bambang said the worst riots this year had been during the elections in Mojokerto, East Java, and Toli-Toli, Central Sulawesi.
Last month, at least 19 people were injured, 22 vehicles destroyed and a meeting room at the district legislature in Mojokerto burned during a riot over the poll for district head.
The demonstrators were angry that religious leader Dimyati Rasyid had failed a medical exam required as part of the selection process.
In previous years, local elections have been tainted by voters registering multiple times using false identities. Bambang said elections where the incumbent was standing for reelection were especially prone to riots. Many incumbents tended to use state money for their campaigns and abused their power to interfere with the local KPU.
"This is often the spark to a conflict and ends in a riot, because people lose faith in the KPU," he said.
Bambang mentioned a new kind of money politics used to win votes by persuading people to be part of a false campaign team. He cited an example in West Waringin, Central Kalimantan, where a candidate had 66,000 volunteers while there were only about 150,000 voters.
"So what's the point of the election?" he said. "These people are not voluntarily signing up to be on the campaign team."
Farouk Muhammad, chairman of Regional Representatives Council Committee I, said the solution was to ensure the KPU was independent and neutral. Farouk said elections had to appear independent so that the people would trust the KPU.
Bambang promised Bawaslu would try to improve human resources at the local level, mapping and predicting future conflicts that could end in riots.