Parliamentary elections in Indonesia, as elsewhere, are usually an ordinary affair as local politicians jockey for position among voters at the grassroots level. Normally voting revolves around homespun issues: a new school library, the local waters works or paved roads. But in the lead-up to legislative elections in Indonesia, campaigning has taken on much broader implications, providing a battleground for separatist forces in the troubled province of Papua, a testing ground for the fragile peace in Aceh and a vibrant backdrop for the presidential poll in July. Keith Loveard, a Jakarta-based security consultant with Concord Security said electoral-related violence in both Papua and Aceh is on the increase, and in Papua this has been accompanied by a general rise in separatist sentiment. Large demonstrations in the regional capital of Jayapura have called for boycotting the polls. Meanwhile the number of attacks by the Free Papua Organization (OPM) has risen, particularly in Puncak Jaya, Loveard said, amid an increase of non-Papuan Indonesian migrants into the area.
Indonesia Elections Have Broad National Implications
