In an emergency move, Malang will inaugurate new councillors to replace almost all the former ones who have gone to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) detention center in Jakarta. 

East Java Governor Soekarwo has sent a decree on the proposed 40 councillors to the Malang administrative secretary on Saturday. 

"There are 41 people [proposed as councillors], but one has been inaugurated earlier so that the remaining 40 will be inaugurated on Monday,” he said, as quoted by Antara.

On Wednesday, the East Java governor, the acting Malang mayor, the Malang chapter of the General Elections Commission (KPU) and other stakeholders established an "acceleration task force" to select replacements for 41 out of 45 councillors. 

Benny Sampirwanto, the head of the East Java Administration Bureau and Regional Authority and a task force member, said they had immediately requested political parties to send their members for selection. 

The KPK has named 41 out of 45 Malang Council members suspects in an alleged bribery case related to the city’s budget deliberation for the 2015 budget year,.

The councillors are suspected to have accepted unlawful gifts from former Malang mayor Mochamad Anton regarding the deliberation. 

The head of the KPU Malang, Zainuddin, had said despite the urgency, the replacement selection process still followed the rules. 

“The replacement candidates must have the second-most votes after the person being replaced; otherwise, we will reject them,” he said. (sau)