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Gerindra lawmakers to be dismissed for being absent from plenary session on Pilkada
Losing presidential candidate and Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto said that he would dismiss three of his lawmakers from membership in his party because they had been absent from a plenary session on the regional election (Pilkada) bill at the House of Representatives late last week
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osing presidential candidate and Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto said that he would dismiss three of his lawmakers from membership in his party because they had been absent from a plenary session on the regional election (Pilkada) bill at the House of Representatives late last week.
Before the plenary session, he had instructed all of his lawmakers to attend the meeting with the purpose of helping the camp supporting indirect elections to win the vote. However, only 22 of his lawmakers attended the session.
He said that he would not tolerate the absence of the three lawmakers, namely Supriyatno, Soemarjati Arjoso and Dhohir Farisi, who is also the husband of Yenny Zannuba Wahid, the daughter of the country's fourth president Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid.
Prabowo, who is also a former son-in-law of the late dictator Suharto, said that the dismissal would be a firm punishment of the three lawmakers, although his camp had nevertheless succeeded in replacing direct elections for regional heads with indirect elections across Indonesia.
'I am very disappointed because our three lawmakers did not participate in taking this important decision for the country,' he said, as quoted by tribunnews.com.
Therefore, he said that he would summon the three lawmakers as soon as possible.
Like the Gerindra Party, the Golkar Party, which is a member of the Red-and-White Coalition led by Prabowo, will also punish 11 of its lawmakers who did not comply with the party's instructions.
Golkar will punish the 11 lawmakers for having favored direct regional elections, a choice upheld by president-elect Joko Widodo's coalition when a vote was conducted during the plenary session.
Previously, Golkar Party lawmaker Zainuddin Amali revealed that he, along with his 10 colleagues, had received a warning letter from the party's central executive board because he had voted for direct elections instead of complying with the instructions of the party to vote for indirect elections.
He said that his 10 colleagues were Poempida Hidayatulloh, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, Nusron Wahid, Emil Abeng, Neil Iskandar, Oheo Sinapoy, Gusti Iskandar, Chairuman Harahap, Nudirman Munir, and Taufik Hidayat.
On Friday last week, Golkar had a total of 84 lawmakers who attended the plenary session. (alz)
