"The war of colors will soon take place everywhere in the country. The situation may cause unrest and create conflict unless it is regulated," Commissioner General Budi Gunawan, the head of the Institute of Police Education, said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesians must be alert over a possible "war of colors" as parties will increase political activities ahead of the general elections next year, warned Commissioner General Budi Gunawan, the head of the Institute of Police Education, here on Thursday.

"The war of colors will soon take place everywhere in the country. The situation may cause unrest and create conflict unless it is regulated," he explained in his speech at a seminar on police leadership for school participants at the Institute of Police Science.

Based on experiences from 2004 and 2009, the situation will heat up ahead of the elections, and it is already happening this year, he noted.

"In several regions, the war of colors has already begun. One day it was dominated by yellow, and the other day, white. It has been very colorful," he stated.

To handle the situation, there has to be coordination and synergy between elections organizers, participants, community members and the police.

He added that to ensure security, the police have already identified potential problems and conflicts between political parties, as well as between participants and organizers.

He emphasized that in view of the situation, all parties must support the stages of the election process.

"Each party has constituencies, and we certainly hope that the political parties will be capable of playing their role well to prevent avoidable disturbances," he stated.

He also stated that the police have adopted several security measures that include signing the Memorandum of Understanding with a number of institutions, such as the General Elections Commission (KPU), the General Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu), the Attorney Generals Office and all political parties involved in the elections.

He noted that the general elections were one of the 12 priority security programs for the police.

He explained that the police had expressed their commitment to stay neutral in the elections.

He further noted that he hoped for support from all concerned parties for the police to conduct preventive as well as pre-emptive measures to ensure security during the event.

Twelve political parties are scheduled to take part in the elections for the selection of the district, city, provincial and central legislative members in April next year.

Each of the parties has its own color as its identity, viz, yellow for the Golkar Party, Red for the Indonesia Democratic Party Struggle, Blue for the Democrat Party and white for the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

Several party executives were seen attending the seminar, including Tjahjo Kumolo, Secretary General of PDIP; Andi Nurpati, Deputy Secretary General of Democrat Party; and Anis Matta, General Chairman of the PKS.

KPU General Chairman Husni Kamil Manik, Bawaslu Chief Muhammad and Constitutional Court Judge Harjono were also present.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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