IO, Jakarta – Nearing the inauguration of the President and Vice President for 2019-2024 on Sunday, 20th October 2019, a series of national defense crises have occurred – from protracted protests to the stabbing of Minister of Politics, Justice, and Security Wiranto. The Government should pay attention and take steps to secure this once every five years’ ceremony.
An MP from the Functional Group (Golongan Karya – “Golkar”) Faction, Ace Hasan Syadzily, stated that a presidential inauguration is supposed to be a celebration. It should not be met with protests, let alone terrorism. “All of us as Indonesian citizens have taken part in a democratic phase: we have executed our elections, and there should be no political worries,” Ace said in the discussion “Measuring the Political, Judicial, and Security Issues Nearing the Inauguration of the President and Vice President of RI” held by the Indonesian Public Institute (IPI) in Cikini, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday (15/10/2019).
Ace believes that since the presidential elections are long and completed, any movement of dissatisfaction with the result of the elections and the subsequent inauguration is no longer relevant. Everyone should be able to accept reality and think of the 20 October inauguration as a celebration of the people’s victory.
In terms of the protests held by several groups in succession – religious groups, workers, citizens, college students, and even high school students – Ace noted that the narrative built by the protesters were originally unrelated to Jokowi’s inauguration. In fact, they only criticized issues relating to laws that they demand the DPR to revise. However, he wonders why now there are narratives about rejecting the inauguration. “The protests being held in the past month actually do not have direct relation with the inauguration of the President, but people are trying to make a connection,” he said.
Therefore, he believes that some anti-democratic groups are seeking to stir up the situation by raising quarrels concerning the results of the 2019 elections and prevent the inauguration of the President-elect and Vice President. Furthermore, the stabbing of Minister Wiranto was executed by terrorists who are affiliated with groups such as the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD). He indicates that some people actually piggyback on normal democratic procedures, like protests, as a means to show their power. The progress born out of the spirit of Pancasila is being undermined by democratic stowaways. The current political landscape is very much different from before. “We must admit that some people still have not moved on and accepted the results of the 2019 elections. Even after the Presidential Elections, some people continue to try and capitalize on the struggle issue,” Ace said.
IPI political observer Karyono Wibowo stated that incidents like the riots in Wamena, Papua; student and worker protests; and stabbing of Minister Wiranto are not related to an effort to sabotage presidential inauguration in 20 October 2019. He finds that each of these incidents have different agendas and purposes, and are independent of each other. “I have not seen any strong indicator to sabotage Jokowi’s inauguration on 20 October. I also do not think that any action can stop it,” he said.
Karyono, believes that there are two main purposes for these actions. The first is to disrupt national stability and security, and the second is to delegitimize Jokowi’s government in the second term. He agrees that the inauguration of Jokowi-KH Maruf Amin should be welcomed by the people’s party, because we all have performed our constitutional democratic process. Election results are final and binding decided by the Constitution Court. “Therefore, whoever they may be and whatever the form is, any group who want to disrupt the inauguration are unconstitutional,” he said.
Meanwhile, intelligence and security observer Stanislaus Riyanta stated that terrorist groups have changed their movement patterns after Law Number 5 of 2018 concerning the eradication of terrorism is validated. They now depend on small cells. “They used to move in big groups, such as during the actions in Kampung Melayu and jalan Thamrin. Now they change into small cells in family or individual level,” he said.
Such small cell movements are hard to detect. Families can move relatively undetected and unsuspected, because they do not need to use communicating devices to coordinate. Another type of action that is hard to perform is “lone wolf” or individual movement. They might become “wolf packs” when they accidentally meet other likeminded individuals then group up spontaneously. Terrorists will continue to adapt to dodge law enforcement. “In the future, such actions will continue to adapt. Now they use small cells like families, and this will be hard to detect. Only their closest people can detect it beforehand,” if any.
Karyono stated that there are other ways to secure the presidential inauguration other than preventing students from protesting. The authorities should allow protests to go on naturally and take the usual security measures. “There should be a wiser way. If the police are worried that students are going to stage a protest, they should guard the protesters instead. Create a tight ring of officers around the protesters like the usual,” he said.
The authorities need not worry about college students. Instead, they should be worried about piggybackers who sneak into the throng of legitimate protesters. He also understands that the officers would be more focused on securing the President than keeping protesters calm. If the authorities insist on prohibiting protests on inauguration day, Karyono suggests that students should be allowed to protest after the inauguration.
Stanislaus Riyanta believes that protests are irrelevant if performed during the inauguration. “Protest about Draft Laws and existing Laws can be held later, after all, because Jokowi’s inauguration is unrelated to Draft Laws,” he said.
Earlier, Commander of Jayakarta Military Regional Commander, Major General Eko Margiyono, has prohibited college students from protesting until the end of presidential inauguration on 20 October 2019. Any request for permission to stage student or civilian protests until then will not be processed. The prohibition applies to the environs of the Parliamentary Complex in Senayan, Jakarta. “Therefore, if any protest is made in this period, you can believe that it is illegal,” Eko said after attending the coordination meeting for the securing of the Presidential inauguration with the leaders of DPR at the Parliamentary Complex, Senayan, on Monday 14 October 2019.
To secure the inauguration, 30,000 personnel in joint teams involving the Armed Forces and the Police will be deployed. The Army will lead the security operations on 20 October 2019. DPR Speaker Puan Maharani stated that security officers will be covering the main parameters of sensitive sites in order to ensure a proper execution of the presidential inauguration. (Dan)