Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The high assembly of the Democratic Party has agreed to oust graft convict Angelina Sondakh from the House of Representatives and the party, after the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court handed her a four-and-a-half year prison term last month.

House of Representatives speaker Marzuki Alie said that the decision was made in a bid to clean up the party.

"Though it is not in kracht [a final and binding decision], this is politics," Marzuki said. "Politics is a different domain with law. So we have to also consider that a political sanction must be different with legal sanction."

The party had previously said that it would only fire Angelina if there had been a final and binding decision from the court, whereby an attempt to appeal was no longer possible.

"But on this [Angelina] case, our society wants something concrete," Marzuki explained. "If she was involved and has been convicted, just let it go. If she doesn't want to step down, it means she is being ousted. It's clear that we have taken steps to clean [the party]."

The former beauty queen was found guilty in January over her roles in two corruption cases, believed to have cost the state $3.6 million in losses.

Angelina was accused of taking some Rp 12.5 billion in kickbacks from disgraced Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin's Permai Group to steer a host of contracts to Nazaruddin's shell companies. She was also accused of receiving $2.3 million in a separate graft case involving the National Education Ministry.

Marzuki said the party's chairman, Anas Urbaningrum, and the secretary general would begin the process to replace her.