Nurdin Hasan & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Indonesian soldiers who pulled down the flags and banners of political parties in Aceh earlier this week had no authority to do so and might have committed legal violations, a local election supervisory committee, or Panwaslu, said on Wednesday.

Syamsul Bahri, the chairman of North Aceh's Election Supervisory Committee, said his office would initiate an investigation after receiving complaints that banners of the Aceh Party – one of the six local parties vying in the elections in Aceh – were being torn down in the Simpang Keuramat subdistrict of North Aceh district.

"If the result of our probe suggests it was a criminal conduct, then we will hand the case over to the police," Bahri said, adding that the election law did not give the military the right to take down any political party banners.

Soldiers from the Simpang Keuramat Military subdistrict on Monday night allegedly took down hundreds of banners belonging to the Aceh Party, a local political party founded by former guerillas of the now disbanded Free Aceh Movement, or GAM.

Aceh Party's North Aceh chapter spokesperson, Dedi Safrizal, said a party leader, Muhammad Dahlan Ishak, tried to stop the soldiers's actions to no avail but recorded the incident on his cellphone camera.

"The video recording will be used as the evidence in our report to the General Election Supervisory Committee," he said.

"We have told all Aceh Party members to keep calm. We will obey the law and will still abide by the Helsinki MoU," Dedi said, referring to the peace pact signed by the government and the GAM leadership in August 2005 that ended almost three decades of violent separatist conflict in Aceh.

The Military chief's assistant for operations, former Aceh military commander, Maj. Gen. Supiadin, defended the soldier's actions.

He said all party leaders in Simpang Keuramat subdistrict had signed an agreement in a meeting that if the banners of any one party were removed by someone without permission from that party, then all parties' banners would be taken down. Supiadin said the meeting was attended by the Simpang Keuramat subdistrict chief, the local police and military commanders, and the representatives of the participating parties, except the Aceh Party.

He said a report was later received saying that 20 Democratic Party and 10 Golkar flags had disappeared, and accordingly the military to took down all party flags in the area.

"Everyone [in Simpang Keuramat] had agreed that if a party's banner disappeared, then other parties' banners, no matter who the perpetrator, must be taken down too," Supiadin said in Jakarta.

However, Syamsul said his committee had never been invited to the alleged meeting. "Such agreement [to take down parties' banners] is not regulated under the General Election Law and cannot overrule a higher law," he told the Jakarta Globe.

Dedi and the Simpang Keuramat subdistrict chief, Ilyas, both denied any agreement had taken place. Ilyas said a meeting of party leaders had taken place but it was only briefing on the election law, how people should use their voting rights and the importance of maintaining peace.

"There was no agreement about flags," Ilyas said. "Only Panwaslu has the authority take down flags and banners if they consider it a violation."

Meanwhile, Aceh Military commander Maj. Gen. Soenarko was quoted by the state-run Antara news agency as saying in Banda Aceh that his soldiers might have violated the law.

"Whatever the reason, taking down political party flags is wrong and beyond the authority of the TNI [the Indonesian Armed Forces]," Soenarko said.