New bomb scare hits Lampung council
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.