Jakarta – Outspoken activist Azas Tigor Nainggolan was arrested by city police on Thursday for slandering Governor Sutiyoso by alleging that he had bribed city councillors.

Tigor, chairman of the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta), was arrested as he was about to board a city bus in front of the Central Jakarta District Court after attending a hearing of a class action suit against Sutiyoso filed by flood victims. Tigor, who is one of the plaintiffs' lawyers, was taken to the city police headquarters at about 11 a.m., and was released after being questioned for almost four hours.

"I rejected the accusation that I had slandered Sutiyoso. I was simply responding to journalists' questions about allegations of money politics," he told The Jakarta Post after the questioning.

He believed that the arrest was part of an attempt to silence outspoken activists who had been critical of Sutiyoso. He had already ignored a police summons three times because it did not clearly say why the police wanted to question him.

On Friday, Tigor and several activists from many non-governmental organizations plan to stage a rally at the Ministry of Home Affairs and at the State Palace to demand annulment of the result of the recent gubernatorial election.

Sutiyoso, who won the election, reported Tigor to the police in March this year for slander over his accusation that Sutiyoso had bribed city councillors with Rp 3 billion so that they would accept his accountability speech for the city budget.

Separately, several city councillors regretted the arrest of Tigor by the city police as an attempt to oppress activists. "I regret the arrest. Why did it happen now, so close to the inauguration of Sutiyoso?" City Council deputy chairman Muhammad Suwardi of the National Mandate Party said.

The Minister of Home Affairs is scheduled to inaugurate Sutiyoso and Fauzi Bowo as the new governor and vice governor on October 7.