La Nyalla Mattalitti, newly elected President of the Regional Representative Council (DPD), Indonesia’s upper house, speaks to the press. (Photo: wartaekonomi) Jakarta (VNA) – Senator La Nyalla Mattalitti was elected President of the Regional Representative Council (DPD), Indonesia’s upper house, for the 2019-2024 tenure on October 1 evening, local media reported.
The 3-hour vote took place during the upper house’s third plenary session which was attended by 134 out of 136 senators.
Former President of the All Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) La Nyalla Mattalitti was elected after drawing 47 votes. He defeated Senator Sultan Bachtiar who won 40 votes, Senator Mahyudin who got 28 votes and Senator Nono Sampono who got 18 votes. The three senators will be the DPD’s vice presidents.
Earlier, Indonesia’s new parliament elected the country’s first female speaker of the People’s Representative Council, the lower house. Puan Maharani, member of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), was voted to lead the lower house for the 2019-2024 period.
She is the first female speaker of the Indonesian lower house after over 70 years.
Puan, born in 1973, is the daughter of former President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who now chairs the PDI-P, and the granddaughter of Indonesia’s founding father and first President Soekarno.
She served as coordinating human development and culture minister under President Joko Widodo from 2014 to 2019.
On the morning the same day, Indonesia officially inaugurated new members of the parliament for the next five years amid large demonstrations across the country over the past 10 days to protest new bills.
Thousands of students, activists and workers took to the streets in the capital city of Jakarta and other major cities to oppose the recent passing of an amendment to the anti-corruption bill, widely critised as weakening powers of the country’s antigraft agency KPK.
The protestors also rejected controversial bills related to criminal code, mining, land, natural resources and labour alleged to benefit fat cats.
Two students were killed in clashes with the police while more than 300 others were injured, including 265 students and 30 policemen./.
VNA
