Why A 'Tour Group' Is Raising Security Concerns Ahead Of The Jakarta Election

Hardline Islamists found a new, weird way to oppose the campaign of Jakarta's incumbent Christian Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama on election day: treat the whole thing like a tourist attraction.

An organization that calls itself Kelompok Tamasya Al Maidah (the Al Maidah Tour Group) announced plans to flood certain polling stations (TPS) with dozens of hardline Islamists, who will be on location to guard against voter violations. But the organization's name does little to hide its political views. "Al Maidah" is a reference to an Islamic verse (Al Maidah: 51) at the center of this election's sectarian tensions, a verse that, according to some interpretations, says that Muslims can't vote for a non-Muslim in an election.

The incumbent governor, a man who is both Chinese and Christian, is currently standing trial for blasphemy over an edited video that showed him questioning the interpretation of that very verse. The allegations that the governor, a man known as Ahok, committed blasphemy were the motivating force behind a series of protests in the capital demanding his arrest. Many of those now involved in Tamasya Al Maidah, like the group's leader Ansufri Sambo, participated in those rallies.

More than 500,000 people attended the largest of the anti-Ahok protests, which were dubbed "peace actions," by their hardline Islamist organizers. Now Ansufri claims his "tour group" will send as many as 1.3 million people to the polling stations for tomorrow's election day.

"We going to ensure that Ahok doesn't win, irrespective of his opponents," Ansufri told local press. "We will monitor, observe, and witness from about 20 meters away, so we won't violate the constitution or the rules. If we see a violation we will shout 'Hey! Don't do that!'

"We will then tell the officials to be brave and take action to prevent violations, to detain them, you'll see."

The organization's name inspired some confusion in the Indonesian capital. Is it a tour group, an organization concerned with election irregularities, or a mob attempting to intimidate Ahok supporters trying to cast their ballots at the polls?

"[Tamasya] means to travel to a tourist attraction, and that's normal," said Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar, spokesman for the National Police. "But if it's for a bad purpose, to obstruct or disturb, to try to cause chaos in the context of election day, then it's not OK."

Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. M Iriawan said that any organization who attempts to disrupt Wednesday's election will be turned away from the polls.

"Anyone at a mass protest will be sent home," Insp. Gen. M. Iriawan told local media. "It's clear that this is more than just Tamaysa Al Maidah. The police and the military will secure every polling station from whoever tries to disturb this election. We will send them home."

The Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) said the agency had an entire infrastructure in place to supervise the election and prevent violations. Bawaslu commissioner Muhammad Jufri told volunteers to stay away from the polling stations. "Leave it to Bawaslu," he told local media.

But Tamaysa Al Maidah's leaders said they would view any attempt to disburse their "tour groups" as an afford to their democratic rights.

"We're visiting the polling stations to monitor them and ensure that the election goes peacefully," Ansufri told local media. "If the government tries to intimidate us, cast us out, or detain us, it would be a great abuse to democracy."