Lampung council challenges Alzier's election annulment

Lampung council challenges Alzier's election annulment

Oyos Saroso HN, The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung, Lampung

Lampung legislative council leaders said on Tuesday that they
will this week file a request for a judicial review of the
central government's recent decision to annul the gubernatorial
election of Alzier Dianis Tabrani, currently standing trial for
graft.

The request will be submitted to the Constitutional Commission
to challenge Decree No. 161.27-589/2003 issued earlier this month
by Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno, council speaker Abbas
Hadisunyoto said.

"This decision has been taken after we considered input from
seven factions in the council and legal experts from the
University of Lampung (Unila)," he told The Jakarta Post.

The ministerial policy was followed by Presidential Decree
No. 262/M/2003 that appointed one of Hari's aides, Tursandi Alwi,
as the acting governor of Lampung.

Abbas was in Jakarta on Tuesday along with his deputies
Zulkarnain and Mochtar Hasan to seek support for the council's
efforts to put pressure on President Megawati Soekarnoputri to
revoke her decree and install Alzier as the new governor.

"The point is that we want President Megawati to respect the
political process in the Lampung legislature that elected Alzier
Dianis Thabranie as the new governor," Abbas said.

Alzier won the gubernatorial election in December 2002
democratically, defeating the then incumbent governor, Oemarsono,
who was backed by Megawati.

Megawati later fired Alzier as a member of her Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) for defying her order to
support Oemarsono's reelection bid.

While police laid graft charges against him, Hari delayed
swearing in the governor-elect for almost one year and finally
decided to annul his election.

Both the PDI-P faction and the military-police faction in the
Lampung council gave backing to the annulment of Alzier's victory
and to plans for the legislature to rehold a gubernatorial race.

However, five other factions were undecided whether to support
or oppose Abbas' plan to file a request for a judicial review of
the annulment policy.

"Our faction's stance is clear. We agree with the President
and the home minister. The presidential decree means we should
hold a revote," PDI-P faction chairperson Nurhasanah said.

She promised her party would not thwart any attempts by the
council leaders to bring the political bickering over the Lampung
governorship to the Constitutional Court.

Echoing Abbas' statement, his deputy Mochtar Hasan said the
central government's decision to annul Alzier's election should
be reviewed legally.

"The reason for the annulment is not substantially and legally
clear. There is no regulation allowing the home minister to annul
the results of a regional election. Therefore, the annulment
should be reviewed by the Constitutional Court to determine
whether the decision is legally flawed or not," he argued.

Meanwhile, a team of lawyers said it would file a class-action
suit against the central government over the annulment of
Alzier's election.

"As lawyers for councillors in Lampung, we will submit a
class-action suit against President Megawati and Minister of Home
Affairs Hari Sabarno with the Central Jakarta District Court,"
Habiburrokhman, coordinator of the Lampung People Justice
Defenders' Team (TPKRL), said.