No Need to Mobilize Masses: Muhammadiah Chairman

Malang (Antara) - General chairman of Indonesia's second largest Muslim organization Muhammadiyah, Din Syamsudin, has asked the success teams of the two presidential candidates not to mobilize the masses during the announcement of the presidential poll results. "Besides an unnecessary mass mobilization, supporters of the two candidates should not come to the KPU office. When they file a lawsuit with Constitutional Court (MK), they should neither come to the MK office with excessive number of people," stressed Din Syamsudin, on the sidelines of a visit to the Malang-based Muhammadiyah University, in East Java on Friday. Not mobilizing the masses constitutes an important lesson on how to implement democracy, he said. "And what is more important is that state pillars are not to be disturbed," Din Syamsuddin stated. All this, however, will depend on the political elites of the two candidates. "I hope that the political elites will show their statesmanship when the results of the polls are announced by the KPU," Din Syamsudin noted, adding that the two presidential candidates should also honestly accept the KPU decision. In the meantime, the Jakarta Metropolitan Police Command will implement a multi-tiered security system to ensure security before and during the announcement of the presidential election results on July 22, stated Brigadier General Sudjarno. "The KPU (General Elections Commission) compound will be sterilized," the command's deputy chief noted here on Thursday. At the time of the announcement, the police will cordon off the KPU office to prohibit the entry of people within a certain radius of the building, Sudjarno remarked. A day before the final rerecounting of vote tallies, the police will conduct a security drill, Sudjarno declared. The supporters of rival candidates attending the announcement will be stopped at different locations to prevent a possible clash that can arise as the crowds start to gather, Sudjarno added. The command will deploy 3,121 personnel to ensure security during the final recount ahead of the announcement of the final result of the election on July 22, he explained. The July 9 election was contested by two pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates. After the conclusion of the voting process, both, the Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa and the Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla pairs claimed victory. In the meantime, several survey agencies have declared the Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla duo as the winner based on their quick vote counts. However, some others have declared the other pair as the winner in the election. (*)