Fahri Hamzah (born 10 November 1971) is an Indonesian politician and former deputy speaker of the Indonesia House of Representatives. He first became a member of the legislative body in 2004 and has been re-elected twice in the same election district since.

Career

After graduating from

University of Indonesia The University of Indonesia ( id, Universitas Indonesia, abbreviated as UI) is a public university in Depok, West Java and Salemba, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is one of the oldest tertiary-level educational institutions in Indonesia (known as the Dut ...

, Hamzah founded the KAMMI (''Kesatuan Aksi Mahasiswa Muslim Indonesia''/Indonesian Muslim University Students' Action Union) and became its first president in the political situation after the

fall of Suharto Suharto resigned as President of Indonesia on 21 May 1998 following the collapse of support for his 32-year long presidency. Vice President B. J. Habibie took over the presidency. Suharto's grip on power weakened following severe economic and ...

. Later, he joined the

Prosperous Justice Party The Prosperous Justice Party ( id, Partai Keadilan Sejahtera, sometimes called the Justice and Prosperity Party), frequently abbreviated to PKS, is an IslamistAl-Hamdi, Ridho. (2017). ''Moving towards a Normalised Path: Political Islam in Contempo ...

after briefly working as an expert staff for the

People's Consultative Assembly The People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, MPR-RI) is the legislative branch in Politics of Indonesia, Indonesia's political system. It is composed of the membe ...

. He ran in the 2004 elections as a nominee for his home district of

West Nusa Tenggara West Nusa Tenggara ( id, Nusa Tenggara Barat – NTB) is a province of Indonesia. It comprises the western portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the exception of Bali which is its own province. Mataram, on Lombok, is the capital and largest ...

, and won a seat. In his first period, he admitted to receiving non-budgetary benefits from then-Minister of Fishery Rokhmin Dahuri, which resulted in him being reprimanded by the body's ethical council (''Dewan Kehormatan'') and was barred from holding a position until 2009. In 2009, however, he successfully ran for a re-election after winning 105,412 votes - the second highest in the district out of 10 elected representatives. During his second term, he caused a controversy by calling for the disbanding of the

Corruption Eradication Commission Corruption Eradication Commission ( id, Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi), abbreviated as KPK, is an Indonesian government agency established to prevent and fight corruption in the country. Firli Bahuri, an active police general, is the current cha ...

. Also in the same term, he served as a member of the body's ethical council briefly during the 2011-2012 period. After placing first in the district for his second reelection in 2014 with 125,083 votes, he was elected as Deputy Speaker of the parliament on 2 October, during which the minority ruling coalition walked out from the parliament building due to a perceived unfairness of the majority opposition placing only their members on the body's speaker positions. On 11 March 2016, he was dismissed from

for making several seemingly controversial, counter-productive and improper statements (a little bit stupid). In accordance, his former party proposed for another member of the parliament Ledia Hanifa Amaliah to replace him as Deputy Speaker. However, Hamzah is still active as Deputy Speaker as of December 2017. Following the dismissal, he sued his former party, winning up to the level of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

which awarded him Rp 30 billion in damages (US$2.1 million). During the voting of the 2017 electoral law, opposition parties all walked out from the parliament's chamber. However, Hamzah decided to remain, despite his sole opposition to a section of the electoral law regulating a 20 percent presidential candidacy threshold with all other members remaining voting in favor of it.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamzah, Fahri 1971 births University of Indonesia alumni Living people Indonesian Muslims Prosperous Justice Party politicians People from West Nusa Tenggara Members of the People's Representative Council, 2004 Members of the People's Representative Council, 2009 Members of the People's Representative Council, 2014