F

ollowing the sudden resignation of one of its lawmakers, the Democratic Party said that it would apply a stricter measure in the recruitment of celebrities to become members of the House of Representatives.

Singer-turned-lawmaker Theresia “Tere” Ebenna Ezeria Pardede announced her resignation late last week, stepping down from her position as a member of Commission X overseeing education, youth, and cultural affairs.

Tere said she wanted to focus on caring for her ailing father and to finish her master’s thesis, apparently irking some members of the party.

Democratic Party faction leader Nurhayati Ali Assegaf looked angry when asked about the issue. She also declined to comment further.

“I don’t want to talk about her anymore. We talked enough about her last week. She is our past. We need to focus on other more important matters,” Nurhayati said on Monday.

Tere has defended her decision saying that “Indonesian politicians lack the courage to resign from their positions when they fail to perform.”

Meanwhile, the party’s deputy secretary-general Saan Mustopa said that Tere’s resignation showed that it took more than popularity to become a lawmaker.

“It’s not always true that celebrities are vote-getters because the votes she [Tere] secured were not that significant,” he said.

Saan said that the party would review its policy on recruiting celebrities soon. “What we really need are individuals committed to improving the party, who will in turn help strengthen the system within the legislative institution,” Saan told reporters at the House on Monday.

He said that the party would improve its recruitment mechanisms for the 2014 legislative election to allow a combination of qualified and popular candidates to win votes.

Other political parties, however, intend to recruit more celebrities for the 2014 election.

Martin Hutabarat, an executive of the Great Indonesian Movement (Gerindra) Party said that a number of entertainers had approached him soon after the House endorsed the election bill on April 12.

The new election law maintains an open-list system that allows voters to choose the most popular candidates on the roster of candidates.

Golkar Party has also courted celebrities including singers Syahrini, Mulan Jameela, and Ahmad Dani to join its political campaign.

Akbar Faisal from the People’s Conscience (Hanura) Party said that it had learned its lesson and would not nominate celebrities as candidates.

“There are no celebrities among the party’s current 17 lawmakers. This doesn’t mean that we don’t like celebrities. We do, but we don’t trust the future of the party to the hands of celebrities,” he said.