Yustinus Paat & Telly Nathalia, Jakarta – Former intelligence chief A.M. Hendropriyono said he will lend 150 of his best trained dogs to assist security forces at the General Elections Commission, or KPU, in anticipation of a massive protest against the election result on May 22.

"We have been training these smart dogs for quite a while, and now is the time to put them to good use," Hendropriyono said in Jakarta on Saturday.

"We have quite a lot of these dogs. We can use them to patrol the capital. If anyone needs them, I will lend them," he said.

Supporters of presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto plan to hold demonstrations in front of the KPU offices in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday after the former general declared he is likely to reject a "fraudulent" election result from the KPU's official count.

Prabowo and his running mate Sandiaga Uno are trailing by double digit in the KPU's official vote tally behind incumbent president Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and his running mate Ma'ruf Amin.

Police have already said they will deploy 32,000 unarmed officers to secure the election protests.

Security concerns

During the presidential campaign, Prabowo and Sandiaga were backed by conservative political parties and mass organizations, including the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the National Movement to Safeguard the Indonesian Ulema Council's Fatwa (GNPF-MUI).

Earlier this month, police anti-terror squad Densus 88 made a series of arrests in various locations in Indonesia, netting around 30 suspected terrorists.

Some of the terror suspects are allegedly members of the Islamic State-affiliated Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

Densus 88 also seized several homemade explosives which the terror suspects planned to detonate by remote control among the crowd in front of the KPU offices on May 22, if the planned protest materialized.

The police have urged Prabowo's supporters to cancel their demonstration plan due to the security concerns.

Hendropriyono, however, played down concerns that the election protests may degenerate into chaos.

"Nothing serious will happen. We know all about the [terror] plots. The police and the military have done all they can [to secure the area]," Hendropriyono, who is also a terrorism expert, said.

As of Sunday morning, the KPU has counted more than 89 percent of the presidential ballot papers. Jokowi and Ma'ruf are in the lead with 55.76 percent of the vote.

The KPU still needs to count ballot papers from five provinces: North Sumatra, South Sulawesi, Riau, Maluku and Papua.

Jokowi are winning in 18 provinces and Prabowo in 11.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/context/exintelligence-chief-wants-to-lend-his-trained-dogs-to-police