Mayor sworn in amid fraud case

BOGOR: Mayor-elect Diani Budiarto and deputy mayor-elect Mochammad Sahid were sworn in by West Java Governor Danny Setiawan on Wednesday, amid a controversial allegation that Sahid had submitted a fake high school diploma to become eligible for the election.

The ceremony itself was conducted under tight security by Bogor Police, after threats were made from non-governmental organizations, who said they would protest the inauguration.

Councillor Ahmad Ru'yat said after the ceremony that they had questioned the result of the election due to the fake diploma allegation.

"This is a reality in politics here, and so reluctantly, we have to comply. We do, however, regret the city council's decision to ignore the public's demand to at least conduct further investigations into this very serious allegation," he said. -- JP