Parliament picks speaker after predecessor felled by scandal

Indonesia's parliament swore in a new speaker on Monday after his predecessor was forced to resign amid corruption allegations.

Setya Novanto, of the opposition Golkar party, was found guilty of ethics violations after an internal probe into a meeting at which he is accused of trying to extort shares worth $1.8 billion from mining giant Freeport-McMoran to ensure its contract extension.

He was replaced by Ade Komarudin, also of Golkar.

It passed only a handful of bills last year, making it one of its least productive years since the transition to democracy in 1998.