Defying court order, minister swears in Lampung governor

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung, Lampung

Defying a court order, Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno installed on Wednesday Sjachroeddin Z.P. and Syamsuria Ryacudu as the new governor and deputy governor of Lampung.

The pair were elected after the gubernatorial election was forced to be reheld because the Lampung legislative council dismissed governor-elect Alzier Dianis Thabrani after he was charged with graft.

The inauguration of the governor and deputy governor at the Lampung legislative council went smoothly on Wednesday. This was in contrast to last month's repeat of the gubernatorial election, which was marked by protests by both opponents and supporters of Alzier.

There were no protesters on Wednesday. However, hundreds of police officers were deployed outside the legislative council in case of violence.

There was concern among some parties that President Megawati Soekarnoputri would not endorse the inauguration because the President had not signed the letter approving the inauguration as of Tuesday afternoon. However, Megawati signed the letter on Tuesday night.

"There was no reason the President would not endorse the inauguration of the elected Lampung governor and deputy governor, because the election was held in a democratic manner," said Hari Sabarno in a speech during the inauguration ceremony.

After the ceremony, Hari brushed aside questions about the decision of the Jakarta Administrative Court to favor a lawsuit filed by Alzier against him.

"It is the right of every citizen to file a lawsuit. But let bygones be bygones. We should think about the future," he said.

The lawsuit challenged the minister's annulment of Alzier's victory in the 2002 gubernatorial election.

The court's decision should have forced the central government to acknowledge Alzier's victory in the election and inaugurate him as Lampung governor.

Alzier was a leader of the local chapter of Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) before he was dismissed for not following a party directive to support the reelection of governor Oemarsono two years ago. Alzier was later named a suspect in a graft case, as well as being charged with using a false university diploma.

Also, two councillors from the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction at the Lampung legislative council were dismissed by the faction for supporting the new gubernatorial election.

Syahri Achmad and Imam Muhyidin voted in the second gubernatorial election despite being ordered by the PKB faction not to attend the vote. The Golkar Party faction also dismissed Syamsuria Ryacudu for defying an order not to run for deputy governor.

Sjachroeddin Z.P. and Syamsuria Ryacudu, with the backing of the PDI-P faction in the legislative council, beat the pairing of Oemarsono and Ibrahim B.S, who were supported by the Indonesian Military and police faction.

Of the 75 members of the Lampung council, 49 councillors voted for Sjahroeddin and Syamsuria, while 17 voted for Oemarsono and Ibrahim B.S.

According to the chairman of the PKB's Lampung chapter, Safrin Romas, the maneuvering to ensure Sjahroeddin's election was aimed at increasing Megawati's chances of winning the upcoming presidential election.