Police Ready To Guard Announcement Of Election Results

Jakarta, July 16 (Antara) - The police are ready to secure the situation during the announcement of the presidential election results on July 22, 2014, stated Chief of the National Police General Sutarman. "We have taken relevant security measures for all stages. The reserves are also ready, and so is the back up from the TNI (Indonesian Defense Forces). More personnel will be deployed at the KPU (the General Elections Commission)," General Sutarman noted here on Wednesday. Although the announcement will be made in Jakarta, several police personnel will be deployed to guard the Banten-Jakarta and Bandung-Jakarta borders. "We will monitor and guard the two borders along Banten and Bandung to anticipate the exodus. But, hopefully, there is none, so the situation is still safe," Sutarman added. The police chief called on the supporters of the two rival presidential candidates, Prabowo Subianto and Joko Widodo (Jokowi), to maintain public order on July 22. The police, however, have chalked out a contingency plan to tackle any chaos or riots during the KPU announcement. Sutarman claimed that the police personnel have receiving training on security procedures to handle riots. "There is no shoot-at-sight instruction, but the police personnel are allowed to use weapons," he stated. The police chief earlier urged the public to wait for the official announcement of the results of the presidential election by the KPU on July 22. He emphasized that the public should uphold democratic principles and should avoid being anarchists. The general explained that he has deployed maximal personnel to secure the 2014 presidential election process. Two-third of the police personnel are guarding the election process, while one-third of them are providing public services. Indonesia organized a presidential election on July 9, 2014, contested by two pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates: Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa and Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla.