Nurul Fitri Ramadhani, Bogor – The Hanura Party has inaugurated 17 members of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) as its new executives.
Among the new cadres are Bali DPD member I Gede Pasek Suardika, North Sumatra's Benny Pasaribu, South Sumatra's Abdul Aziz and East Java DPD member Ahmad Nawardi. They only joined the party a few months ago.
The 17 are only part of more than 50 DPD members joining the party following the election of Oesman Sapta Odang, a DPD member from West Kalimantan, as Hanura chairman in December last year.
Oesman said after the inauguration ceremony in Bogor, West Java, on Wednesday that the participation of DPD members in the party would strengthen the DPD, which is striving to get lawmaking powers that currently rest exclusively with the House of Representatives.
"The participation of DPD members in the party won't disrupt their work as [regional representatives], quite the contrary, it will strengthen the DPD, because now the DPD members have a political faction to represent their voice," Oesman told The Jakarta Post.
Ahmad Nawardi told the Post that the party would increase the bargaining power of the DPD vis-a-vis the House. "Our membership in the party will strengthen the DPD itself. I'm sure it won't create any conflict of interest, because we are willing to follow Oesman, who doesn't show too much ambition for power," Ahmad said. (ary)