Outspoken Demokrat politician Andi Arief arrested for drug abuse

PARTAI DEMOKRAT - JAKARTA. The police nabbed Democratic Party deputy secretary-general Andi Arief on Sunday for allegedly consuming sabu-sabu (crystal methamphetamine).

National Police Criminal Investigation Department head Comr. Gen. Idham Azis confirmed the arrest to The Jakarta Post on Monday, but declined to provide further details.

Based on a statement and photographs seen by the Post, Andi was arrested in a hotel in Slipi, West Jakarta shortly after consuming the drugs.

Andi has been in the spotlight a number of times over the past year following several controversial statements he made on Twitter.

In August, shortly before the presidential tickets were officially announced, he derided Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto as a "cardboard general" for picking former Jakarta deputy governor Sandiaga Uno as a running mate.

Andi went so far as to accuse Sandiaga of paying off the other two parties in Gerindra’s coalition, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the National Mandate Party (PAN), triggering an investigation by the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), which has since been closed due to a lack of evidence.

In January, Andi's tweets were once again the source of conflict, when he tweeted unverified news that millions of precast ballots had arrived at Tanjung Priok Port, North Jakarta. He later deleted the tweet but it triggered uproar on the internet, causing the General Elections Commission (KPU) to investigate the claim, which turned out to be false.