Dessy Sagitap, Jakarta – Most of the violence that breaks out in regional elections could be easily prevented if the local polling commissions were better respected by the public, a report suggests.
The report, released on Wednesday by the International Crisis Group, said a general dearth of trust in the regional polling commissions (KPUD), triggered by their seeming lack of neutrality, sparked many incidents of election-related violence.
Achmad Sukarsono, a Southeast Asia analyst with the ICG, said most of this year's incidents were triggered by challengers who had either lost the vote or been disqualified, rather than the incumbent.
"Candidates and their supporters who have lost faith in the KPUD and the electoral system itself often challenge the KPUD's decision by resorting to violence," he said. "But often the candidates wash their hands of the mess, as if the violence was the act of their followers only and they had no power to stop it."
The report cited May's election for the district head of Mojokerto in which Dimyati Rasyid, a popular Islamic cleric, was disqualified for failing the mandatory health examination.
The Mojokerto KPUD failed to properly explain to the public that Dimyati had been disqualified because he was suffering from an untreatable form of diabetes, Achmad said. Instead, it only issued a letter saying he was unfit to run.
Armed with homemade weapons, his supporters stormed and ransacked the legislative building. They also searched for KPUD commissioners, determined to intimidate them. The full facts relating to Dimyati's medical condition were only revealed in court when Dimyati mounted a legal challenge to the KPUD's decision.
Achmad said the attack on the legislature would never have happened if the KPUD had made its reasons for disqualifying Dimyati clear from the very beginning.
The report revealed an increase in the number of violent incidents. From 2003 to 2008 there were only 13 cases of violence reported, but in 2010 there had been at least 20 violent incidents.
Achmad said that most of the election-related violence that occurred during 2010 was not caused by substantial issues such as religion and race, but merely because people did not believe in the KPUD. "This is actually a good thing because it means that the solution to this problem is actually simple," he said.
Achmad cited this year's election in Poso, Central Sulawesi, as an example of how a regional election should be run. The district was the site of deadly sectarian violence between Christians and Muslims from 1998 to 2001. However, it managed to hold a relatively successful election, Achmad said.
He added polling officials there had anticipated any problems well by earmarking a sufficient budget and a large number of police to provide security.
"There were some disputes, but none led to destructive conflict. This was because the Poso KPUD had communicated its neutrality, so people actually trusted them."
The ICG report also said KPUDs in general often failed to perform properly because of their dependence on local budgets to fund the elections and pay the commissioners'salaries.
Achmad said this dependence allowed the incumbent district head to control the money and even suspend the disbursement of the funding.
Jim Della-Giacoma, ICG's Southeast Asia project director, said it was clear that these problems were easily preventable. "What the 2010 local election cycle showed is that modest efforts by national, provincial and district officials can minimize violence, if not avoid it altogether," he said.
The ICG recommended improving KPUDs by providing central government funding and appointing only commissioners with the ability to handle crises.