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SUBJECT Bambang Soesatyo elected as new Speaker of Parliament
DATE 2018-01-26
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By The Indonesian Parliament appointed the 55-year-old Mr Bambang Soesatyo as its new Speaker last Monday, catapulting the former journalist and businessman to the top parliamentary job in just over eight years since he first became a Member of Parliament. 

 

 

The announcement was released amidst a nation-wide political scandal revolving around his predecessor Setya Novanto who was ousted from his two posts in the legislature after being indicted in a multimillion-dollar graft probe.

 

 

As a result, Bambang assumes roles as both Speaker of the People’s Representative Council and Chairman of the House Commission III, which oversees laws and human rights, not to mention the Corruption Eradication Commission among branches of the legislature.

 

 

Bambang’s surname is associated with one of Jakarta’s most illustrious of military families but instead of following in the footsteps of his family by joining the armed forces, he became a journalist at 23 and later started his own timber business.

 

 

After failing four consecutive times to become MP, he tried again in 2009 challenging the incumbent from the district of Central Java and ultimately secured a seat in Indonesia’s House of Representatives.

 

 

  Speaker of the People's Representative Council, Mr Bambang Soesatyo

Speaker of the People’s Representative Council, Mr Bambang Soesatyo (Photo: Instagram)

 

 

As MP, he earned a name for himself as a politician who persistently battled corruption and spoke up against the government’s controversial bailout plan for Bank Century following the global financial crisis in 2007.

 

 

With his expertise in accountancy and economics, Bambang has been a fierce critic of the current president Joko Widodo’s economic policies and management of the state budget.

 

 

Against this backdrop, Mr Bambang’s current tenure as Speaker of Parliament will last just 18 months until the next round of legislative elections begins next year.

 

 

Given this time constraint, observers are questioning whether this new leadership will successfully remake the image of a defective Parliament, which passed a meager eight out of 50 bills in 2017.

 

 

By MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr)