TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Functional Group (Golkar) Party's executive chief Nurdin Halid said that Golkar chairman Setya Novanto will be reappointed as House of Representatives speaker.
According to Nurdin, Setya Novanto's good name needs to be restored after the Constitutional Court and the House's Ethic Council (MKD) ruled in favor of Setya in relation to an allegation of misusing President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo’s name.
"The Constitutional Court's rulling is clear. The case is baseless and has no legal force," Nurdin told Tempo on Monday, November 21, 2016.
In addition, the Constitutional Court ruled that the tapping of the conversation between Setya Novanto, oil and fuel import Muhammad Riza Chalid, and former Freeport President Director Maroef Sjamsoeddin was illegal.
Nurdin added that the House's Ethics Council had never imposed sanctions against Setya over the allegation of ethics violation. Although the MKD's hearing session was not concluded yet, Setya decided to resign from his post as the House speaker.
Nurdin revealed that these were the reasons for the party’s central executive board to reappoint Setya as the House speaker.
Nurdin said Golkar would wait and see the political condition before replacing current House speaker Ade Komarudin with Setya. Nurdin believes that the decision will be acceptable to Ade.
"Ade is a senior at Golkar, and he is not just a regular cadre," Nurdin claimed.
Before being appointed as the House Speaker, Ade served as the Golkar Party’s faction chairman. However, Nurdin could not confirm whether Ade would be reassigned to the position.
Nurdin explained that Golkar's next move is to establish political communications with people who are competent to decide Setya’s reappointment. The decision, Nurdin said, will be communicated to the party’s Advisory Council.
AHMAD FAIZ
