MINISTER DAULT GIVES UP RIGHT TO BECOME HOUSE MEMBER

Jakarta, Aug 27 (ANTARA) - Youth and Sports Affairs Minister Adhyaksa Dault has decided to give up his position as a successful legislative candidate and, instead, to remain a minister until the end of the present cabinet's term in October.

"I had to choose. That's why, I will waive my right to be installed as a House of Representatives (DPR) member," said Dault who ran successfully in the legislative elections last April as a candidate of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

He made the remarks on Thursday after a meeting with General Elections Commission (KPU) Chairman Abdul Hafiz Anshary. The minister met Anshary about his plan to let his elective position go.

Dault said, under existing electoral regulations, if he was to be installed as a DPR member, he would have to resign from his ministerial post. But now he had decided to remain in his cabinet post until the expiry of the present administration's term next October.

New members of the DPR who were elected last April will be installed on October 1, 2009 while the president-elect and vice president-elect will be inaugurated on October 20, 2009.

The minister said that although the difference was only 20 days, he preferred giving up his prospective DPR membership rather than resigning from his ministerial post.

"I have to be thankful for being able to become a minister. Although the difference is only 20 days, I have to resign (as a would-be legislator). I want to uphold the principle that as I was appointed a minister in a good way, I should also complete my term as minister in a good way," he said.***