Police arrest Lampung governor-elect Alzier

Police arrest Lampung governor-elect Alzier

Oyos R.N. Saroso, The Jakarta Post, Bandar Lampung

The National Police arrested the elected governor of Lampung
province, Alzier Dianis Thabranie, and flew him to their Jakarta
headquarters on Saturday despite a massive rally supporting the
governor-elect.

Alzier was forced into a police helicopter at the Lampung
provincial police headquarters on Saturday and flown to Jakarta
for further questioning, Brig. Gen. Aryanto Sutadi told AFP on
Sunday.

Aryanto, who heads the police general and transnational crimes
division, said that Alzier was taken to Jakarta "because the
situation in Lampung was deemed inconducive for a police
investigation of the suspect."

Thousands of people from regencies all over Lampung province
staged a demonstration in front of the gubernatorial office in
Bandar Lampung, demanding the inauguration of the governor-elect.

"The Lampung people have elected the governor in a democratic
manner but the central government annulled it. We are here to
oppose that annulment," a demonstrator said.

The demonstrators also occupied the ferry port in Bakauheni
for several hours before riot police forcibly dispersed them.

No casualties were reported but the occupation of the port
caused a massive 20-kilometer tailback on its access road.

The protesters also condemned the corruption charges as being
irrelevant as the case happened back in 1993. They said the delay
was evidence that the police were not professional.

Hundreds of police personnel were deployed to enhance security
around the gubernatorial office and the provincial legislative
council, where the protesters staged their demonstration.

The government has decided to postpone the inauguration of
Alzier, who won the gubernatorial election last December, due to
his being charged as a suspect in the graft case.

Home affairs minister Hari Sabarno has signaled that Alzier's
installation would be postponed until the case was fully
resolved.

"It would not be efficient or effective to swear in Alzier at
present because another gubernatorial election would have to be
held if he is found guilty," the minister said.

He has instead appointed Tursandi Alwi, chief of the research
and development division at the home affairs ministry, as acting
governor until a new governor is sworn in.

Alzier finally showed up at the Bandar Lampung police station
for questioning on Friday after having claimed to have been sick
for a number of days.

A spokesman for the Lampung Police, Sr. Comr. Fatmawati, said
that Alzier had come for questioning at his own volition
following his failure to show up last week.

"Pak Alzier said he was available to undergo questioning, and
came here of his own free will," he said.

Brig. Gen. Aryanto Sutadi, who is leading the questioning,
declined to brief the press, saying the investigation was still
underway.

Alzier's lawyer, Eddy Rifai, said that his client had been
allowed to undergo questioning in Lampung on two conditions: that
he was cooperative and that no pressure from the public was
brought to bear.

Fifteen legislators from the provincial legislative council
also assured police that Alzier would be cooperative during
questioning.

Last week, more than 50 supporters of Alzier from Tanggamus
and South Lampung regencies came to the Lampung Post daily's
offices in the city to protest its April 10 edition, which
reported that the local police had set up a team to find the
suspect and arrest him following his failure to show up for
questioning as originally scheduled.

The protesters, who claimed to be ready to die for Alzier,
threatened to deploy thousands of people to attack the daily's
offices if the newspaper continued reporting damaging news about
the governor-elect.