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AKARTA: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono witnessed first hand an incident in which security officers from his motorcade allegedly abused a motorist who then published a letter about the incident in the newspaper Kompas the next day, a presidential adviser has said.

“The president regrets [the incident] and would impose serious sanctions on the perpetrator, if what the reader’s letter said is true,” special adviser to the President Denny Indrayana said as quoted by detik.com.

Hendra N.S., who lives near Yudhoyono’s private residence in Cikeas, said in his letter that Jl. Cibubur Raya was only ever devoid of traffic in the day when the President’s motorcade was passing through.

Hendra said that his irritation with the situation had peaked on July 9 when he was stopped by motorcade officers. One of them, he said, told him to move to the right, and the other to the left. The officers then banged on the hood and wing mirror of Hendra’s car, he said.

His letter attracted a flurry of replies, which spread to Twitter. Many tweeted that the President should reside in the State Palace to avoid causing traffic snarls caused by his motorcade.

Denny said the President and his family mostly stayed at the State Palace and only went home to Cikeas on weekends. — JP