Tension is heating up in West Java due to friction between supporters of winning and losing pairs of gubernatorial candidates, following a quick-count announcement two days after the direct election held Sunday.
In provincial capital Bandung on Tuesday, at least 20 supporters of Agum Gumelar and Nu'man Abdul Hakim, who were backed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the United Development Party (PPP), burned two banners "congratulating the victory" of Ahmad Heryawan and Dede Yusuf, who were nominated by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and National Mandate Party (PAN).
The supporters regarded the installation of dozens of banners claiming to represent residents of local neighborhoods as an "insult" to other candidates.
Tio Setiowekti, coordinator of supporters of the Agum-Nu'man media center, said the banners provoked conflict between supporters of different candidates.
A major rally was staged by at least 1,000 supporters of Agum and Nu'man in Tasikmalaya on Tuesday at the local branch of the General Elections Commission (KPUD).
Tasikmalaya Police said protesters were angry about flyers distributed before the election day urging people not to vote for the candidates.
"These black campaigns must be thoroughly investigated. Whatever the results, the display of these banners is an insult to the ballot counting process -- so they must be removed immediately. They create a heated situation by belittling other candidates," Tio said.
Setia Permana of the West Java KPUD immediately ordered all banners of congratulation be taken down to prevent tension. All political parties and communities were also asked not to pay much attention to the quick count vote announcements and to wait for the results of the official ballot count.
"Don't provoke unnecessary problems. Don't show off the victory ... because the ballot count is still in progress," Setia said.
Yudi Widiana Adia of the PKS agreed with KPUD's call, but he denied the banners were installed by PKS members.
"We have ordered our cadres and supporters not to install banners before the final results are officially announced by the KPUD. Not a single one of our supporters does that," Yudi said, acknowledging such banners had been found in a number of cities, including Cimahi, Tasikmalaya and Sukabumi.
Based on the ballot count (as of 6 p.m. on Tuesday) of 5.29 million votes recorded by the KPUD, the incumbent Danny Setiawan and Iwan Sulandjana had 26.11 percent, or 1.38 million votes; Agum and Nu'man had 34.4 percent, or 1.82 million; and Hermawan and Dede 39.46 percent, or 2.08 million votes.
