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embers of the opposition Red-and-White Coalition (KMP) convened on Friday evening at the private residence of Gerindra Party patron Prabowo Subianto in Bogor, West Java, in support of senior Golkar Party politician and House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto, who has been reported to the House ethics council for alleged misconduct.

Aside from Setya, the meeting was also attended by Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie, National Mandate Party patron Amien Rais, Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Sohibul Iman and United Development Party (PPP) chairman Djan Faridz.

The outcome of the meeting was an agreement to support Setya keeping his position as House speaker and to urge the ethics council to work based on facts, not on personal sentiments, according to a Golkar politician with knowledge of the gathering.

'€œKMP members have decided to throw their support behind Setya,'€ according to the politician, who declined to elaborate.

The KMP controls more than 55 percent of House seats.

Setya is fighting for his political life, with several House party factions announcing their intention to unseat him from his position.

Scores of lawmakers from the ruling Great Indonesia Coalition have threatened to push through a vote of no confidence against Setya if he refuses to resign amid allegations that he used the name of President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla to get access to copper and gold mining firm PT Freeport Indonesia.

'€œWe are using a moral mechanism to convince him to step down. We no longer trust him,'€ said NasDem Party lawmaker Teuku Taufiqulhadi, one of the initiators of the motion, on Friday.

Taufiqulhadi'€™s move was joined by Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Adian Napitupulu, Inaz Nasrullah of the Hanura Party and Arifin Hakim Toha of the National Awakening Party (PKB) .

The four lawmakers professed exasperation at Setya'€™s antics, which they considered to have tarnished the House'€™s good name.

The vote of no confidence, Taufiqulhadi said, would be promoted among House members next week in order to build up momentum.

Lucius Karus, a senior researcher at Indonesian Parliament Watch (Formappi), urged lawmakers to come out in support of the vote of no confidence against Setya.

'€œI think that this is the best response from legislators, especially those who feel that their dignity as members of the House has been violated by the ethical question hanging over the House speaker,'€ Lucius said.

Setya is at the center of a controversy surrounding an alleged ethics breach involving the local unit of US mining giant Freeport McMoRan.

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said reported Setya to the House ethics council on Monday for allegedly claiming to have won the approval of Jokowi and Kalla to secure shares and projects from Freeport in exchange for helping the company extend its contract and continue operating its gold mine, one the world'€™s largest, in Papua.

Setya was briefly reported to have stepped down from his position on Friday, with fellow Golkar member Fahmi Idris telling Reuters that the embattled politician had decided to step aside.

However, Setya'€™s spokeswoman Nurul Arifin subsequently denied that the House speaker had made any such statement. '€œThere was no such statement. [Reuters] has made a mountain out of a molehill,'€ she said.

Fahmi also denied making the statement, saying that the media had misquoted him.

Meanwhile, deputy House ethics council chairman Junimart Girsang of the PDI-P said the council would soon decide a course of action to take in response to Setya'€™s alleged breach of ethics.

The council, he explained, might summon a number of people implicated in the recording, as well as Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said, who filed the report to the council.

'€œ[We'€™ll summon] the plaintiff Sudirman Said, the reportee and certain witnesses. We will look into it during the hearing,'€ Junimart said at the House compound on Friday.

Based on an agreement with National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti on Thursday, Junimart said the council would not verify if the recording in question was authentic.

'€œSince [Setya] acknowledged that the meeting did occur, there'€™s no need to verify the voices. The recording will be played during an open hearing '€” unless its authenticity is brought into question, of course,'€ he said after meeting with fellow council deputies Sufmi Dasco Ahmad and Hardi Susilo.

Setya has since denied acknowledging that it was his voice that was heard in the recording, and urged the police to conduct a forensic investigation into the recording.

'€œI never admitted [that my voice was heard in ] the recording,'€ Setya said.