Rangga Prakoso & SP/Robertus Wardi – Agusrin Najamuddin, a graft convict and the suspended governor of Bengkulu province, is turning to religion as prosecutors dither on whether to make him start serving his sentence.

Marten Pangrekun, Agusrin's lawyer, said on Tuesday that Agusrin was holed up in an Islamic boarding school "somewhere in West Java". "He's studying religion," Marten said. "He finds he can pray more in peace there than in Jakarta, where there are all kinds of distractions."

Marten also called on the Bengkulu Prosecutors' Office to give Agusrin a stay of detention until the Supreme Court makes a decision in its case review.

"They won't lose anything" by letting him remain free until then, Marten said. "If the review is rejected, then he'll still serve the four years. There won't be any discounts just because they don't drag him to jail now.

Agusrin, from the Democratic Party, was initially acquitted by the Central Jakarta District Court in May last year of embezzling Rp 20.1 billion ($2.21 million) in land and building tax revenue that should have gone into the Bengkulu coffers.

This January, however, the Supreme Court overturned the decision, sentencing Agusrin to four years in prison and fining him Rp 200 million.

On Tuesday, prosecutors in Bengkulu acknowledged they had yet to act on the Supreme Court ruling to jail Agusrin, while the Attorney General's Office last week said that while it had received an official copy of the ruling, it had yet to take any action against the convicted criminal.

Agusrin still enjoys official standing as the Bengkulu governor, albeit suspended. Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi said on Tuesday that he would soon file a request with the president to officially fire the felon from the post.

He added that he would order the dismissal of four mayors and district heads who were also convicted of corruption but have never been officially sacked.

They include Eep Hidayat, the suspended head of Subang district in West Java, who was sentenced to five years in prison, and Mochtar Muhammad, the Bekasi mayor, who was sentenced to six years. Both were imprisoned last month.

Others are Satono, the East Lampung district head, who was given a 15-year sentence, and Basyrah Lubis, the head of Padang Lawas district in North Sumatra, who was given six months. Both remain free.