Ousted Lampung speaker promises to fight back

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung

The fight between two executives of the Lampung branch of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) has kept the provincial legislative council held hostage as both still claim to be its legitimate speaker.

Sri Atidah, ousted by her fellow councillors as council speaker a year ago, will be replaced by fellow PDI Perjuangan politician, Abbas Hadisunyoto, on Tuesday based on Ministerial Decree No. 161.27-400/2000.

However, Atidah, the de facto speaker, vowed on Saturday to defend her position and not to hand it over to Abbas until a court decision was handed down.

Atidah filed a lawsuit with the State Administrative Court in Jakarta last Thursday, demanding the home minister drop the decree.

"We demand the minister cancel his plan to declare Abbas the new council speaker because the legal process is still ongoing," Atidah's lawyer Safruddin Husin said.

Atidah was ousted during a plenary session in August last year for incompetence, with the majority of councillors voting against her.

The councillors then appointed Abbas to replace her. Abbas was then chairman of the PDI Perjuangan faction in the council.

The decision created a dual leadership in the legislature, with Atidah still chairing all council meetings.

Atidah and her supporters claim that her dismissal was spearheaded by Lampung Governor Oemarsono, who is seeking his reelection for a second term.

They said the governor did not want her as the council speaker as she would pose a threat to his reelection efforts.

They said that Oemarsono had the backing of Abbas' supporters to unseat Atidah and had lobbied in Jakarta, paying hundreds of millions of rupiah in bribes, to get the ministerial decree.

"Abbas has received Rp 400 million (US$44,000) from Oemarsono. He bombarded the Ministry of Home Affairs after he had the financial backup," Atidah said.

The dispute between the two also involves their supporters.

Atidah's supporters warned that they would mobilize thousands of people to reject the decree if the home minister proceeded with his plan to appoint Abbas on Tuesday.

Last Wednesday, hundreds of Atidah's supporters clashed with Bandarlampung Police personnel in the council building when the protesters tried to chase Abbas.

Atidah warned that if the government imposed its decision on the Lampung Legislative Council, the fight would be prolonged and this would delay the gubernatorial election.

However, Abbas played down the threat, saying that the gubernatorial election would be in his hands as the new council speaker.

"It is the council speaker's right to be chairman of the gubernatorial election committee. But we will just wait for the decree. Atidah has no right to be the committee' chairperson," Abbas said.

He warned that all PDI Perjuangan faction members would walk out of meetings regarding the gubernatorial election if Atidah was committee' chairperson.

Meanwhile, legislative council deputy speaker Azib Zanim said that the election had nothing to do with Atidah's lawsuit.

"The most important thing is the decree has been released and there is no further discussion about who is the council speaker," he said.