Puteh stripped of powers in Aceh

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri officially stripped Abdullah Puteh of his powers as Aceh governor and administrator of the civil emergency on Wednesday.

However, Puteh's lawyers say the move means Puteh would be back at work in his job as early as this week.

Megawati's Presidential Instruction (Inpres) No.2/2004 requires Puteh to comply with the Corruption Eradication Commission's (KPK) probe into a graft case in which Puteh is a suspect.

The instruction says during Puteh's questioning "the administration will be run by the deputy governor, who is accountable to the president through and in accordance with directives from the Minister for Home Affairs (Hari Sabarno)."

The KPK is questioning Puteh about irregularities in the purchase price of a Russian helicopter bought by the Aceh administration in 2001. The alleged mark-up is thought to have cost the state about Rp 4 billion (US$440,000).

"The daily duties and authorities of the Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam governor as administrator of the civil emergency will be taken over by the (acting) Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs (Hari Sabarno) as the Central Civil Emergency Administrator," the instruction says.

The change, the instruction says, reflects the government's commitment to eradicating corruption.

Puteh's lawyer Eggi Sudjana said defense lawyers had dropped their plan to sue Megawati because the presidential instruction did not dismiss Puteh.

However, Eggi said Puteh would go back to Aceh to resume his duties as the governor and civil emergency administrator until the next questioning.

This was because the instruction only stripped Puteh of his powers when he was being questioned, he said.

"As the questioning won't be held until next month (Puteh) can resume his daily work. In fact, the instruction is useless," he said.

He also revealed Hari had phoned his client on Tuesday.

"But I don't know what they talked about," Eggi said.

Puteh said he would abide by the instruction.

"The instruction is the policy of the President as my supervisor. I will obey it and I will be loyal," he said after undergoing an eight-hour questioning session at the KPK's office on Wednesday.

Puteh said he had tried his best to be cooperative during the questioning by the commission.

"I have already answered some 200 questions. They (the commission) are very professional so I have tried to answer their questions professionally," he said.

Puteh will be questioned again on Aug. 2. In the meantime, the KPK will question several other witnesses in a bid to evaluate Puteh's answers.

Hari, meanwhile, said he would assign an official as soon as possible to run Aceh's civil emergency administration.

"Since this is a state of civil emergency, (the official appointed) will be a civilian," Hari said.

Aceh deputy governor Azwar Abubakar would run the Aceh administration in the meantime, he said.