Among the regions considered prone to conflicts, are big cities in North Sumatra, Java, South Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Maluku, North Maluku, Papua, South Sumatra, and West Nusa Tenggara.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian police have already identified potential conflict-prone regions during the upcoming general elections, and thus, plans to intensify security arrangements in those regions.

Among the regions considered prone to conflicts, are big cities in North Sumatra, Java, South Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Maluku, North Maluku, Papua, South Sumatra, and West Nusa Tenggara, Head of Maintenance Security Police (Baharkam) of the National Police Headquarters Commissioner General Badrodin Haiti remarked after a coordination meeting here on Monday.

He noted that various factors can trigger conflicts in these regions, based on their past election history.

"The conflict potential in North Maluku and Papua is quite high, due to their geographic conditions," he explained.

He emphasized that the police have already made the necessary security arrangements to tackle the problem.

"We have issued directives with regard to coordination between the central and regional task forces on areas such as training, equipment, and personnel deployment," he noted.

He added that the central task force will be made available only as a reserve force, in case the need arises in the regions.

"We will use it only as a contingency measure, in case of any shortage," he claimed.

On the occasion, National Police Chief General Sutarman ordered to hold more election security exercises.

"They have been trained, but I have asked them to carry out additional training exercises for contingency purposes," he stated.

His decision came following a recent statement issued by the Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu), which stated that election security potential reached 30 percent, based on the number of the poor as compared to the number of voters.

Based on the data revealed by the Bawaslu, potential security disruptions may arise during voters registration, updating voters data, logistics procurement, election campaigns, voting, and vote counting.

At the registration level, 169 districts and cities have been categorized as highly sensitive, while 155 districts/cities have been considered highly sensitive for logistics distribution, and 92 districts/cities for vote counting.

Sutarman explained that the police have mapped the security concerns at all stages, from logistics distribution to vote counting.

"There are high security concerns in the 2014 general elections, including during logistics distribution, campaigning, cooling-down period, voting, and vote counting. But, we have mapped them all," he pointed out.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2014