Papuan governor election bogged down by infighting

By Nethy Dharma Somba
Source : The Jakarta Post

Barnabas Suebu won Papua's direct gubernatorial election, but he hasn't had time to celebrate yet.

Instead, the newly elected governor and his lawyers, led by Bambang Widjojanto, reported Papua Council Speaker John Ibo to the police for alleged defamation on Saturday.

Bambang said John, who ran unsuccessfully against Barnabas, had accused Barnabas of using fake documents to register as a candidate for the March 10 election.

He said the story was picked up by local media in early June, after the Papua General Elections Commission had declared Barnabas and his running mate Alex Hassegem the winners.

Bambang said John violated articles 310 and 311 of the Criminal Code and could face up to four years in jail if found guilty.

Earlier, the lawyer also filed a lawsuit against John Ibo at the Jayapura District Court, demanding more than Rp 500 billion (US$52,6 million) in compensation.

Bambang said John had attacked his client personally, as well as attacking his integrity and defaming him. He said Barnabas did not use fake documents to run in the election.

Barnabas said in a press conference in Jayapura that the fake document referred to in the statement was a letter explaining that he had lost his senior high school diploma. He said he never had a high school diploma, since he never took the final examination.

He explained that when he was a first-year student at SMA Advent Doyo Sentani senior high school, he took a Colloquium Doctum program ran by Cendrawasih University and passed, which enabled him to enroll at the university's School of Law.

""So I have never had a high school diploma,"" he said.

He said the letter explaining that he had lost his diploma was drafted by his campaign team, who did not know that he does not have one.

He said he had ordered his campaign team to withdraw the document and openly explained the matter to the public.

John Ibo said he was surprised by the lawsuit, adding that he had simply followed up on peoples' reports in his capacity as council speaker.

""But I'm not scared. I have the truth and the law will recognize the truth,"" he said.

The lawsuit is not the only thing that has kept Barnabas out of the governor's office.

After he was officially named as the election's winner by the Papua General Elections Commission at the end of May, the commission released two conflicting letters.

One letter, dated June 6 and released by the council's deputy, Komaruddin Watubun, said Barnabas and his running mate Alex should be officially installed in their offices for the 2006-2011 period.

But the next day, another letter was issued by John Ibo, saying Komaruddin's letter violated the council's procedures.

In the letter, John also said the two could only be installed following a plenary meeting, which would be held only after the council's investigative team completed its probe of Barnabas' alleged use of fake documents.