0 Aceng's Fate Left Up to President

While the Supreme Court on Wednesday approved a proposal for the Garut Legislative Council to sack its district chief Aceng Fikri, who divorced a teenager via text message after four days of marriage, the fate of his position will be up to the president. Justice Agung Supandi of the Supreme Court said although they had approved a recommendation by the legislative council, known as DPRD, to dismiss the embattled leader, the ruling had to be approved by the president. “It can not be squarely executed,” Agung said. 

“With the Supreme Court ruling, DPRD has the legal base to ask the president [to impeach Aceng].” The local council filed the proposal for Aceng to be dismissed in December, after he caused a national uproar when it was revealed that he had divorced his second wife, Fani Oktora, who was 17 years old at the time, just four days after their July wedding last year via text message. Outraged with the ruling, Aceng's lawyer Ujang Sujai told Detik.com that he would mobilize a group of Aceng's supporters to protest the decision. 

“We will not stay silent,” Ujang said. “We will protest the DPRD and mobilize the mass. I don't know the number [of the supporters], we will keep on communicating with Aceng's supporters.” Ujang said that the impeachment was a bad precedent set for common-law marriages as it was not related with Aceng's performance as a district head. Aceng's other lawyer, Eggi Sudjana, told Detik.com that he would sue the Supreme Court and Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi and would seek Rp 5 trillion ($520 million) in compensation. 

He said the ruling had violated the legal principle of fairness, saying that marriage was not a crime. But Supandi said that Aceng should respect the court's decision. “Public officials should consistently abide with the law, including with the ruling of [the] Supreme Court that has legal binding,” Supandi said, adding that the decision was taken according to the law and could not be sued. Gamawan, who previously said that Aceng was guilty for not registering his marriage, said on Wednesday that he was not worried over the lawyer's threats over a possible protest from Aceng's supporters. “If [they] cause riots, just arrest them,” Gamawan said at the president's palace on Wednesday.

source : the jakarta globe