17 councillors fired for defiantly voting got their choice

17 councillors fired for defiantly voting got their choice

Oyos Saroso HN, The Jakarta Post, Bandar Lampung

Leaders of three political parties have dismissed 17 councillors
loyal to Lampung governor-elect Alzier Dianis Thabrani.

The 17 councillors were dismissed after they voted for Alzier
in the Lampung gubernatorial election in December 2002, and at
the same time disregarded an instruction from the central and
provincial executive board of the three parties to vote for rival
Oemarsono, the incumbent governor of Lampung.

The 17 councillors comprise 10 from the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI-P), six from the National Awakening Party
(PKB) and one from the Crescent Star Party (PBB) factions.

Sahzan Safri, the chairman of PDI-P's Lampung chapter, said
that the party had had second thoughts about the agreement to
vote for Oemarsono.

He said that prior to their dismissals, they had been warned
several times concerning their blind loyalty to Alzier.

"But they remained adamant, and the councillors even rejected
a later decision by the government to annul the election of
Alzier," Safri said.

Safri was referring to the 17 councillors move to file a
request for a judicial review of the central government's recent
annulment of the result of the gubernatorial election. The
request was filed with the Constitutional Commission.

Abbas Hadisunyoto, spokesman for the 17 councillors, fought
back, saying that the councillors would immediately file a
lawsuit against the decision to dismiss them, which was made by
the executives of the three political parties, both at the
provincial and national levels.

Abbas said that the December 2002 gubernatorial election was
legal, so that the party executives did not have strong grounds
to dismiss them.

Alzier was elected the governor of Lampung on Dec. 30, 2002,
defeating then-incumbent governor Oemarsono, who was backed by
President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The central government annulled Alzier's electoral victory
last year after having delayed the swearing in of Alzier for
months, claiming the election had breached procedures.

Police then laid graft charges against the governor-elect, and
Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno recommended a revote to
elect another governor while installing one of his aides as the
acting governor for the province.

Most factions in the Lampung legislative council agreed with
the call for a revote, but the council leaders, including
Hadisunyoto, vowed to request a judicial review to challenge
Hari's annulment of Alzier's election.

Alzier is reportedly preparing to take legal action against
the central government over the annulment.

He is also fighting a legal battle against the state for
allegedly falsifying a document before his election last year.
The charge carries a 10-month jail term.

Alzier has been implicated in a fraud case involving 500 tons
of fertilizer worth Rp 502.5 million (US$59117) belonging to
state-owned firm PT Pusri, and in using an illegal diploma to
make him eligible for the gubernatorial election, according to
prosecutor R. Onggan Siahaan.