Indonesia Election Jihad: 8 DEAD, 737 Wounded in Violent Post-Election Riots After Jihadis’ Candidate Loses Presidential Race, ISIS Arrests

Indonesian police struggled to contain thousands-strong riots late Tuesday against the re-election of moderate President Joko Widodo over hard-line military general Prabowo Subianto. The unreast has killed six and injured hundreds since Islamic groups called for “constitutional jihad” against Widodo this weekend. (Breitbart)

Defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, who has run for the presidency on several occasions, has denied being an avowed jihadi but embraced the support of fringe Islamic groups. His campaign benefitted from social media rumors and unofficial negative campaigning accusing Widodo of being a secret Christian and communist (communism is illegal in Indonesia).

A number of Islamic State jihadists have been arrested for these protests.

Islamic State jihadists arrested for Jakarta protests

Police spokesman: “They wanted to conduct attacks taking advantage of the demonstrations”. Over 450 alleged rioters arrested. The Jakarta governor: “At least eight people have died; 737 are wounded ”. Four deaths are due to stab wounds, as many with gunshots. But the police didn’t have lethal bullets. Intelligence: “Some wanted to make ‘martyrs’”.

ASIA News: Indonesian police have arrested two people suspected of being affiliated with the Islamic State (IS): they intended to launch a terrorist attack under the cover of protests against the presidential election results.

Alleged members of the Islamist Islamic Reformist Movement (Garis), the two were among the hundreds of rioters who took to the streets in central Jakarta three days ago, stated inspector general Muhammad Iqbal, spokesman for the national police.

The violent street demonstrations that destroyed various parts of Central and West Jakarta ended only on the night between May 22 and 23. The authorities have arrested over 450 suspected rioters. Many of these are from outside Jakarta (Bekasi, Sumatra and the provinces of Banten, Central and West Java). The police found envelopes containing money on some of the searched people. National Police spokesman, the insp. General Muhamad said two days ago that “the incidents were premeditated and the protesters received money to create chaos”.

Anies Baswedan, governor of Jakarta, said last night that in the two days of violence “at least eight people died; a further 737 received medical care in hospitals ”. Among the wounded, 79 are in serious condition.

Related: Police Arrest Organizer of ‘Jihad Tour’

The Indonesian election commission ratified Widodo’s victory on Tuesday, revealing the results of the race giving the president an 11-point lead over the challenger. A total of 44 percent of voters, or 69 million people, supported the losing candidate. Subianto rejected the results of the election and has announced he will petition for a recount, citing alleged fraud.

According to Singapore’s Straits Times, Widodo opponents used social media to organize in anticipation of the presidential election results released Tuesday. A group calling themselves “Persaudaraan Alumni 212,” a reference to the mobs that pressured the government into imprisoning Christian Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama for alleged blasphemy, began posting calls for “constitutional jihad” against another Widodo term regardless of the results of the election.

The calls attracted 2,000 people to the headquarters of the national election institute in Jakarta, who began burning vehicles and garbage, throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks to block police activity. Police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. (Breitbart)

Now read the NY Times report. Not one word about who, what and why this is actually happening. Kudos to Breibart.

Violence Erupts in Indonesia’s Capital in Wake of Presidential Election Results

By Muktita Suhartono and Daniel Victor, New York Times, May 22, 2019

JAKARTA, Indonesia — The police in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, have clashed with demonstrators as protests over the newly announced results of the April presidential election unraveled into violence.

The city’s governor, Anies Baswedan, a close ally of the defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, cited reports of deaths and said about 350 people had been injured in the violence on Tuesday night. Tito Karnavian, the chief of the Indonesian national police, also reported deaths, saying six people had been killed according to hospital officials.

Officials attributed the violence to organized groups bent on mayhem that appeared late Tuesday after the day of political protest. But it was not immediately known which group those injured or killed belonged to. A police spokesman said late Wednesday that 257 people had been arrested.

In response to the unrest, the authorities said on Wednesday that they would block some social media services, including Facebook and Instagram, in some areas of the country.

“I will not tolerate anyone who tries to disrupt security, disrupt the democratic processes and undermine the unity of this country that we very much love, especially rioters,” the newly re-elected president, Joko Widodo, told reporters.

The violence was set off by Tuesday’s announcement, more than one month after the April 17 vote, that Mr. Joko had won re-election with 55.5 percent of the vote. The announcement inflamed some supporters of his opponent, Mr. Prabowo, who has accused election officials of widespread fraud and said he would legally challenge the result.

Mr. Prabowo has not substantiated his claims of fraud, and international observers have not found evidence. In a statement on Wednesday, the United States Embassy in Indonesia called it “a successful, free and fair election.”

Television footage on Tuesday showed police officers in riot gear firing tear gas at demonstrators who hurled firecrackers back at the officers. Muhammad Iqbal, a national police spokesman, said the demonstrators were “provocative and violent,” according to Channel News Asia.

“They damaged security barriers and provoked officers,” he said. “As per our standard operating procedure, officials pushed them back. The protesters were not cooperative and brutally attacked officers with rocks, Molotov cocktails and firecrackers.”

Indonesia is the world’s third-largest democracy, and its election in April featured 800,000 polling stations spread across the archipelago for its population of about 260 million people.

And then ultimately, finally:

Faith politics figured prominently in the election, which pitted Mr. Joko, a moderate technocrat who has a reputation for celebrating diversity, against Mr. Prabowo, who is backed by some hard-line Islamists and is known as a ruthless former general and onetime son-in-law of the longtime dictator Suharto. Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population, but is a secular state with many religious minorities.