A senior Indonesian politician resigned from the country’s largest political party after he was featured with a popular singer on a sex tape that was widely circulated in the country, media reports said yesterday.
Yahya Zaini - who is the head of the Golkar Party’s religious affairs department, which has responsibility for moral issues - submitted his resignation from the party, which was immediately approved by its chairman, Jusuf Kalla, who is also Indonesia’s vice president.
In addition, the married Zaini will lose his seat in the House of Representatives after Golkar’s deputy chairman, Agung Laksono, said late Monday that the process was under way to remove Zaini from parliament.
The video that prompted the resignation is less than one minute long and has been circulated via mobile phones and e-mail. In it, Zaini and singer
Maria Eva can be clearly identified.
Zaini flew back from a parliamentary study tour in Australia at the weekend as news of the tape spread. He is reportedly in hiding in Jakarta.
Eva, however, appeared at a tearful press conference Monday and admitted to making the tape but denied distributing it.
The singer said she had loved Zaini but their affair had ended two years ago. She added that she had been pregnant and was pressured to have an abortion by him and his wife.
“He asked me to marry him, but I declined the offer as I don’t want to be his second wife,” The Jakarta Post quoted Eva as saying.
The scandal broke as Islamic leaders and political parties were campaigning for tougher morality laws in Indonesia, including outlawing pornography and public displays of affection.
Religious leaders in the nation with the world’s largest Muslim population and top politicians have called for harsh action to be taken against Zaini.
In Indonesia, many politicians have playboy reputations but take care to keep their private lives private. Before Zaini, none had been caught on tape.