Defying court order, minister swears in Lampung governor

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.