Ahok's Supporters File Police Report over Raid by Unknown Mob
13 January 2017 20:32 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Hundreds of people raided a base camp of supporters of incumbent Jakarta gubernatorial candidate Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama and Djarot Saiful Hidayat in Senen, Central Jakarta on Monday, January 9, 2017. The mob also intimidated volunteers at the base camp and allegedly took a number of items.
"We have identified that there are more than 100 people who raided the basecamp and intimidated [volunteers]," member of Ahok-Djarot campaign team Ronny Talapessy said at the Jakarta Police on Friday, January 13, 2017.
Ronny explained that the incident occurred at a house owned by a volunteer, Johny Zulkarnaen, at around 9:00 AM Western Indonesia Time, Johny's house was planned to be used as the team's base camp.
"Volunteers were having a meeting and planning to invite Ahok to visit the base camp," Ronny said.
Suddenly, a group of people claiming to be a religious organization came and intimidated Johny and his colleagues.
"The mob urged to cancel the plan to use the house as a base camp and Ahok's visit," Ronny revealed, adding that the mob threatened to burn down the house if they did not comply.
Johny said that the group of people forced to enter the house and banned local residents from voting for Ahok.
"I can't speculate to which religious organization they were with. I'll let the Police do their work," Johny said.
A number of items went missing, including a banner, a t-shirt and a flannel shirt.
"We call on police to investigate the crime," Johny said.
To this date, the volunteers continue to conduct campaign activities at the basecamp. Johnny said that he was still waiting for a permit from the Jakarta General Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) to set up the base camp.
AVIT HIDAYAT
