PDIP Deplores House Leadership Election

Jakarta, Oct 2 (Antara) - The Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) expressed its disappointment over the election of the leadership of the House of Representatives (DPR) and said it ran against democratic principles. "The rules of the election were very problematic. We must not think this is only about who all are in the DPR leadership," PDIP senior politician Rieke Diah Pitaloka said early on Thursday morning. She added that her side should have been given a chance to express its views during the plenary session. "We are not people who have been in politics only for one or two days. We are indeed young, but we know that the plenary session is the highest decision-making forum. Lobbying is allowed, but decision should be made at the plenum. Please note, every member has the right to speak. This is constitution," she stated. She observed that during the plenary session microphones at the desks stopped functioning. "How could we speak when the microphones were off? I met the DPR secretary general during a short break, and she too said the microphones were not working. Imagine this happened during the election of the DPR leadership," she stated. However, she said she believed that the general public was mature and smart enough to judge what kind of DPR leadership Indonesia deserved. "We elected the leaders of the people`s representatives. So, I will ask the public to judge what kind of leaders have been elected in this manner," she said. On Thursday morning, the political parties in the Red-White coalition elected Setya Novanto from the Golkar Party as the Speaker. The four deputy speakers elected were Fadli Zon from Gerindra, Agus Hermanto from the Democrat Party, Taufik Kurniawan from the National Mandate Party and Fahri Hamzah from the Prosperious Justice Party. The PDIP grouped in the Great Indonesia coalition with the National Awakening Party, while the People`s Conscience Party and the National Democrat Party members walked out of the session in protest against the session led by Popong Otje Djundjunan from the Golkar Party, which they considered undemocratic. In their absence, there was only one group of candidates to choose from, the Red-While coalition. The Red-White coalition members had supported Prabowo Subianto in the presidential election on July 9, which was won by Joko Widodo with support from parties in the Great Indonesia coalition.