The Prosperous Justice Party lawmaker who vowed almost three weeks ago to step down over a pornography scandal on Friday said he had no responsibility to answer to the leaders of the House of Representatives on vacating his seat.
Arifinto, from the Islamic-based party also known as PKS, announced on April 11 his resignation after he was caught watching pornographic videos on his tablet computer during a House plenary session. Yet he has continued to show up at the House, claiming he has unfinished work to take care of.
“Just use common logic. I am just doing [this] based on what the law states,” Arifinto said. “Even if I am no longer a lawmaker, I still have the right to come to the House, right? I am also one of the people.
“The House leaders are not my bosses, I don’t have any responsibility to report to them.”
Several House leaders have suggested that Arifinto personally send them a letter of resignation. Usually such a communique is tendered to the party, and is then passed on to the House, which then hands it to the General Elections Commission (KPU) to verify the resignation. The president will then issue a decree if he agrees.
Although Arifinto said he was unaware of the exact date he tendered his resignation to, he assured reporters on Friday that the letter had been sent.
Mustafa Kamal, who heads the PKS faction at the House, confirmed on Friday that the party had received Arifinto’s letter and would soon forward it to the House leaders.
Arifinto said he would continue to show up for work while the letter was being processed by the various bodies, and until President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono approved his resignation.
Shortly after being caught watching the videos, Arifinto claimed he was the pornographic material came up on his tablet after he unknowingly opened a link on an e-mail sent to him.
But photographs taken by a Media Indonesia journalist revealed the videos had not originated from an e-mail, but were already stored in a folder on his tablet’s hard drive.
Arifinto declined to comment on whether he had fulfilled the requirements of PKS’s Shariah board, which demanded that he ask for God’s forgiveness 100 times with 40 days, read the entire Koran with 30 days and to give alms to 60 people.
“That’s my duty for life,” he said.
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