Council speaker elected quickly

Council speaker elected quickly

BATAM, Riau Islands: Soeryo Respationo from the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) was elected the new speaker
of the Batam legislative council in a unanimous decision achieved
within only 15 minutes on Thursday.

All factions in the 45-strong council agreed to name Soeryo
the new speaker for the 2004-2009 period, and Aris Hadi Halim of
the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and Chablullah Wibisono of the
National Mandate Party (PAN) as his deputies.

Soeryo was nominated by the joint faction of PDI-P and Golkar
Party which control seven and five seats in the council
respectively. Meanwhile, PKS and PAN have six members each in the
legislature.

"The election was held democratically. There were no
machinations or manipulation. It is a unanimous decision by all
the councillors to appoint me as the speaker," Soeryo said. --JP