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Council sees four new members after scandal
Deputy House Speaker Taufik Kurniawan installed four new members of the honorary council (BK DPR) on Tuesday
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Deputy House Speaker Taufik Kurniawan installed four new members of the honorary council (BK DPR) on Tuesday.
“I must warn all of you that the council works collectively, therefore good team work is expected from the council in tackling the reports,” he said.
The new honorary council formation mostly consists of old figures, those who had previously been in the council.
It only accommodates four new figures, namely Muhammad Prakosa and Sri Rahayu, both lawmakers from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Edison Betaubun from the Golkar Party and Darizal Basir from the Democratic Party.
Muhammad Prakosa was elected as the new council chief.
Most of those members who had been reported to have abused their privileges on the trip were now reinstalled as the new members of the honorary council.
Names such as Nudirman Munir from the Golkar Party, Salim Mengga of the Democratic Party, Ali Maschan Musa from the Nation Awakening Party (PKB) and Anshori Siregar from the Justice Prosperous Party (PKS) were among those eight members who were reinstalled.
Former council head Gayus Topane Lumbuun said each party faction has prevented the institution from upholding ethical conduct of its legislators.
“The lawmakers are showing their true colors,” Gayus Topane Lumbuun said on Tuesday.
BK DPR has replaced four of its 11 members, including Gayus, after a series of internal rifts in the body.
Secretary-general of the PDI-P, Tjahjo Kumolo, said that beside Gayus, his party also withdrew
Mohamad Nurdin, who was a member of the council, and prepared three new candidates to replace them as the party had promised at the most recent executive meeting.
Other parties broke their promises to install new officials in the body along with Gayus’ withdrawal.
Controversy flared up after Gayus filed a report against eight of his council members who stopped in Turkey after a working trip to Greece from Oct. 23–29, which experts said was an unnecessary trip.
Sebastian Salang, the executive director of the Parliament Watchdog, said that the recasting plan of the BK DPR by the faction leaders in the legislature was only a decoy to settle public uneasiness after the trip incident.
“It caused the council to fail in its role to uphold the ethics of these lawmakers,” he said.
The council had accepted 44 reports regarding ethical violations of the legislators to this date.
Most of the reports accused legislators of having sexual affairs and arriving late to meetings and plenary sessions. (rch)
