RI may unplug US citizen after loudspeaker incident

Luke Gregory Lloyd, the US citizen who brazenly marched into a Lombok mosque in the dead of night and disconnected its loud speaker, is facing deportation for alleged visa violations.

Instead of being investigated for an alleged act of blasphemy, the 64-year-old man, who has lived on the island of Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara province for 15 years is being investigated for overstaying his visa.

Lloyd has been under Central Lombok Police custody since Aug. 22, when he fled a mob of angry locals who were chasing him after he unplugged a loudspeaker at a mosque near his home.

“[Lloyd] was probably annoyed [by the loud sound] of people reciting the Koran and pulled the plug on a loudspeaker,” West Nusa Tenggara province spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Sukarman Husein told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

He said Koran recitals were usually carried out there from 9 p.m., after Ramadan prayers, until 3 a.m. every night during Ramadan.

He said Lloyd had for 15 years tolerated the noise blasting from the mosque and keeping him awake and had never filed a complaint.

“But he finally snapped.”

Enraged locals then chased Lloyd and destroying his house and breaking windows before the police arrived at the scene, Sukarman said.

“The locals could not accept his behavior. He unplugged the cable without any compromise.
This is what made the locals angry,” he said.

Sukarman denied media reports saying Lloyd was detained and facing blasphemy charges.

He also said he did not know if Lloyd was guarded by police at a hotel, as opposed to a jail cell, saying he needed confirmation from the Central Lombok Police.

Lloyd could face five years in prison if found guilty under the 1965 Blasphemy Law.

“For the time being, we are treating him as a victim whose house has been destroyed,” he said.

No suspects have been named, he said, but the West Nusa Tenggara Police’s detective unit, which was in charge of the case, was questioning local people alleged to have taken part in destroying Lloyd’s house.

“Meanwhile, we are also looking into Lloyd’s immigration status as his visa has expired since 2006,” Sukarman said.

He said he had coordinated with the local immigration office to find out more about Lloyd’s visa status.

If the immigration office’s data shows that Lloyd has overstayed his visa he faces deportation, Sukarman said.

Corina Sanders, a spokesman for the US Embassy in Jakarta, said the embassy was aware of the case
but refused to make comment on grounds of the US’ “Privacy Act”, which prohibits American citizens or officials to speak to the public “without permission” from the US government.