Fadli Zon


Fadli Zon is an Indonesian politician and former deputy speaker of the Indonesian People's Representative Council. As one of the founders of the Great Indonesia Movement Party in 2007, he is the party's current vice chairman. A prominent member of the opposition, he is a frequent critic of Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his cabinet.
While formally a deputy speaker, Fadli has twice served as acting speaker of the House - in both cases as a replacement for Setya Novanto when the latter resigned due to involvement in corruption scandals. Most recently, Fadli held the post from 11 December 2017 to 15 January 2018.

Family and personal life

Zon was born in Jakarta, the eldest of three children of Zon Harjo and Ellyda Yatim, both from Minangkabau in West Sumatra. His father died when he was a teenager. From 1989 to 1990, he attended Harlandale High School, San Antonio on an exchange program facilitated by the American Field Service.
In 1997, he completed his undergraduate education in Russian Studies at the University of Indonesia. He later studied at London School of Economics and Political Science, earning a masters in development studies.
He has established a library in Jakarta, named after himself, and a cultural house in Tanah Datar, West Sumatra. A large fan of the traditional Kris, he possesses a large collection of them and chairs the Indonesian National Kris Secretariat for the 2016-2021 term.
He is married to Katherine Grace, and they have two daughters.

Career

Early political career

After graduating in 1997, he became a member of the People's Consultative Assembly for two years. After the fall of Suharto, he was one of the founders of Islam-based Crescent Star Party and briefly became one of its chairmen, but he resigned in 2001. Between 1999 and 2007, he was on the boards of directors of several energy and agricultural companies, before he met businessman Hashim Djojohadikusumo in November 2007.
Hashim, Zon and Hashim's brother Prabowo Subianto, then a member of Golkar, declared and registered Gerindra in December 2007 and the party participated in the 2009 elections, winning 4.46% of the votes and gaining 26 seats in parliament. Zon himself did not gain a seat, receiving 11,077 votes in West Sumatra electoral district 2, where the seat-winner received 21,348 votes.
In the 2014 elections he ran once more for a legislative seat, this time in a West Java electoral district, where he received 79,074 votes, securing himself a seat in the People's Representative Council.

As deputy speaker

After Joko Widodo's victory over Prabowo Subianto in the presidential elections, Gerindra formed an opposition coalition named Koalisi Merah Putih, which held a parliamentary majority, comprising Gerindra, the PKS, the PAN, the PPP, and Golkar. Zon frequently criticized Widodo's policies, from a ban on ministerial-level officials to speak in parliament, an alleged lèse-majesté case against a satay seller, to the revocation of national fuel subsidies.
In 2015, Zon and House Speaker Setya Novanto caused controversy by attending a press conference in the United States of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. The two were accused of receiving graft and of misrepresenting the position of the legislative body. The two were later reprimanded for violating the House's code of conduct.
Zon was appointed chairman of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption in October 2015, a position he has held since.
In December 2015, when Setya Novanto resigned from his position as a speaker upon facing a corruption charge related to Freeport-McMoRan, Zon briefly took up the speaker's position until Golkar assigned Ade Komaruddin as a replacement. In 2016, Komaruddin was removed from the position due to ethical misconduct and Novanto returned as speaker. Novanto was again implicated in another corruption case in 2017, and Fadli once more was appointed as acting speaker in late 2017.

Fake news lawsuit

On 12 March 2018, Fadli and fellow House of Representatives Deputy Chairman Fahri Hamzah were reported to Jakarta Police for allegedly spreading fake news and hate-speech on Twitter. Muhammad Rizki reported the pair for re-tweeting fake news from Jawa Pos online. Jawa Pos later clarified and removed the report, whereas Fadli and Fachri had kept the fake news. The report had falsely claimed the head of a fake news organization called Muslim Cyber Army was a supporter of Basuki Tjahaja 'Ahok' Purnama, the former Jakarta governor who was jailed for allegedly insulting Islam. Rizki accused the deputy speakers of violating Indonesia’s Law on Electronic Information and Transactions. Gerindra responded by saying it was ready to provide Fadli with legal assistance and called on police to be fair in handling the case.

Books

Zon is the author of several books, some published by his Fadli Zon Library.