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Lion Air founder Rusdi Kirana resigns from PKB
The country’s ambassador to neighboring Malaysia, who is also a politician with the National Awakening Party (PKB), Rusdi Kirana, has announced that he would soon leave the party because of his tight schedule as a diplomat.
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The founder of Lion Air, Rusdi Kirana, poses for a photograph in the aisle of a new Airbus A320 during its maiden flight from Jakarta to Batam for Batik Air on Nov. 21, 2014. (AFP/Romeo Gacad)
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ndonesian ambassador to Malaysia and politician Rusdi Kirana has announced his resignation from the National Awakening Party (PKB), with his aide citing his tight schedule as a diplomat as the reason.
"I am resigning from PKB membership," Rusdi confirmed as quoted by Antara news agency.
Rusdi’s secretary Djaduk Natsir said that the ambassador, who currently stays in Kuala Lumpur, would soon submit his resignation letter to PKB chairman Muhaimin Iskandar.
Djaduk said that Rusdi, who is also the co-founder of low-cost carrier Lion Air, decided to leave the party because of his busy schedule as an ambassador.
Rusdi joined the PKB as the party’s deputy chairman in January 2014. He later resigned from his position after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo appointed him to be a member of the Presidential Advisory Board in 2015.
Jokowi appointed Rusdi to be Indonesia’s envoy to neighboring Malaysia in May 2017 and his term as ambassador is to end in May 2020.
PKB deputy secretary-general Lukmanul Khakim said separately that Rusdi had long proposed to resign his membership as he wanted to “focus on his job as an ambassador”.
Lukmanul, however, had suggested Rusdi postpone the move until the party’s muktamar (national congress), which was held from Monday evening to Wednesday in Bali.
This year’s congress was attended by 3,000 participants, comprising 2,000 party members and 1,000 Islamic scholars. The congress had unanimously agreed on Wednesday to reappoint Muhaimin Iskandar as the party chairman until 2024. (vny)
