Indonesia arrests 10 planning attacks at polls outcome event

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s counterterrorism squad has rounded up at least 10 people suspected of planning attacks during next week’s announcement of the results of April’s hotly-contested presidential election, police said yesterday.

The arrests come as tension runs high and security is tightened in the world’s third-largest democracy ahead of the May 22 announcement by the General Election Commission.

It is expected to confirm unofficial counts by private pollsters that showed President Joko Widodo winning the race over exgeneral Prabowo Subianto last month.

Nearly 32,000 police and military personnel were on standby here, including troops drafted in from other provinces, to safeguard the event, national police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said.

“Through interrogation, we found the suspects planned to attack mass gatherings on May 21, 22 or 23,” Prasetyo said, referring to demonstrations planned for next week.

“Their aim is to create chaos and target as many victims as possible, including police.”

The suspects belonged to Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), the largest Islamic State-linked group in the country, and authorities were on the hunt for more members, he added.

Last week, authorities shot dead one militant and detained six for plotting to attack police during the planned demonstrations.

Prabowo has refused to concede and his team has made accusations of “massive cheating and irregularities” in the voting and vote-counting process.

“We have won the mandate of the people,” the former special forces commander told supporters at an event on Tuesday.

“If we give up, that means we are giving in to unfairness, and that means we are betraying our own country and our people.”

With more than 80 per cent of ballots counted, Widodo was leading by 12 percentage points, with 56 per cent of the vote, the Election Commission said.