Golkar faction members in parliament reject Syamsuddin

A least 60 members of the Golkar Party faction in the House of Representatives (DPR) signed a petition rejecting the appointment of Aziz Syamsuddin as House Speaker by Setya Novanto, who just resigned from his position as House Speaker, according to Fadel Muhammad, one of the signees.

"There are already more than half. We are 91, but several are not available," Fadel Muhammad said here on Monday.

Agus Gumiwang, secretary of the Golkar Faction, is one of the signees, he added.

Golkar has a mechanism for cadre replacement in the DPR; therefore, the party`s cadres refuse a unilateral appointment of Syamsuddin by a certain group, he stated.

Any replacement or appointment of Golkar cadres as DPR leader should be discussed with the party`s Advisory Council, he noted.

After an internal discussion within Golkar, the decision could later be conveyed to the DPR or the Parliament`s Consultative Board (Bamus), he revealed.

Replacement process should be accountable in accordance with the party`s mechanism, while any unilateral or authoritarian action could humiliate Golkar, he remarked.

He suggested that Golkar first holds an extraordinary congress to appoint a new chairman to replace Novanto and later decide on a figure as the DPR chairman.

Novanto has sent a letter to resign from the house speaker`s post, according to Sarifuddin Sudding, deputy chairman of the House`s Ethics Committee (MKD).

Novanto appointed Syamsuddin as the house speaker, he noted here on Monday.

The leadership of the House of Representatives received two letters from Novanto, respectively, on Dec 4 and 6, he added.

Roem Kono, chairman of the coordinator of public welfare of Golkar Party, confirmed about the letters.

The Corruption Eradication Commission has temporarily detained Novanto after he was named a suspect in a corruption case related to the electronic identity card project.

The Golkar party`s Central Leadership Council has received requests from the Regional Representative Council at the provincial and district levels to hold an extraordinary congress to decide on Novanto`s successor

Source: ANTARA