New bomb scare hits Lampung council

Oyos Saroso HN, Bandarlampung

A suspicious package found on Thursday in the office of the Lampung legislative council speaker prompted councillors and staff to flee in panic, fearing that it was a bomb.

Last Sunday, a homemade bomb exploded outside the council, several hours before it held a gubernatorial revote on Monday, despite opposition from politicians and students and rumors of money politics and Jakarta intervention. On Tuesday, two bombs were found planted in separate locations in the provincial capital of Bandarlampung.

Council speaker Nurhasanah immediately called for assistance at around 11:30 a.m., when she discovered a strange black bag inside her office locker, which she suspected to be a bomb.

Other councillors, administrative staff and journalists on the ground floor also departed the building.

Lampung Police chief of detectives Sr. Comr. Bachtiar Tambunan arrived at Nurhasanah's office along with a bomb squad to examine the suspicious package.

The police team found the package was not a bomb, but contained an "amulet" bearing an Arabic letter. The amulet was inside a short pipe with a one-meter length of red cloth.

The package was taken for further investigation to track down those who had planted it, allegedly in an attempt to terrorize the council over the controversial gubernatorial election.

In Monday's plenary session chaired by Nurhasanah from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction, the Lampung Council elected Sjahroeddin ZP as governor and Syamsuria Ryacudu as his deputy. Sjahroeddin is a retired police general and son of a former Lampung governor, while Syamsuria is a brother of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu.

The revote was held following the dismissal of governor-elect Alzier Dianis Thabarani, although the Jakarta Administrative Court ruled his dismissal as unlawful.

Alzier was jailed by a district in Lampung for graft after defeating former governor Oemarsono who was strongly supported by President Megawati's PDI-P faction during the 2002 election.