La Nyalla Mattalitti, newly elected President of the Regional Representative Council (DPD), Indonesia’s upper house, speaks to the press. (Photo: wartaekonomi)Jakarta (VNA) – SenatorLa Nyalla Mattalitti was elected President of the Regional RepresentativeCouncil (DPD), Indonesia’s upper house, for the 2019-2024 tenure on October 1 evening, local media reported.
The 3-hour vote took placeduring the upper house’s third plenary session which was attended by 134 out of136 senators.
Former President of theAll Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) La Nyalla Mattalittiwas elected after drawing 47 votes. He defeated Senator Sultan Bachtiar who won40 votes, Senator Mahyudin who got 28 votes and Senator Nono Sampono who got 18votes. The three senators will be the DPD’s vice presidents.
Earlier, Indonesia’s newparliament elected the country’s first female speaker of the People’s RepresentativeCouncil, the lower house. Puan Maharani, member of the ruling IndonesianDemocratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), was voted to lead thelower house for the 2019-2024 period.
She is the first female speaker of the Indonesian lower house after over 70years.
Puan, born in 1973, is the daughter of former PresidentMegawati Soekarnoputri, who now chairs the PDI-P, and thegranddaughter of Indonesia’s founding father and first President Soekarno.
She served as coordinating human development and culture minister underPresident Joko Widodo from 2014 to 2019.
On the morning the same day,Indonesia officially inaugurated new members of the parliament for the nextfive years amid large demonstrations across the country over the past 10 daysto protest new bills.
Thousands of students,activists and workers took to the streets in the capital city of Jakarta andother major cities to oppose the recent passing of an amendment to theanti-corruption bill, widely critised as weakening powers of the country’santigraft agency KPK.
The protestors also rejectedcontroversial bills related to criminal code, mining, land, natural resourcesand labour alleged to benefit fat cats.
Two students were killed inclashes with the police while more than 300 others were injured, including 265students and 30 policemen./.
VNA
