A senior legislator from Indonesia's biggest party has resigned after he was caught on tape having sex with a fellow party member, which is the most shocking scandal in the mostly Muslim country.

Yahya Zaini, one of the leaders of the Golkar party, has officially submitted his resignation letter to the parliament leader, House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono told reporters Friday.

A Golkar leader in charge of moral and religious affairs, Yahya shocked the country when he appeared in a video recorded by a cell phone camera having sex with Maria Eva, a member of the Golkar's youth wing who is also a singer.

The video, which was actually taped two years ago, triggered outrage in the Golkar's board of executives who immediately forced him to quit post as Golkar leader and secretary of the Golkar faction in the 500-member parliament, where the party controls 129 seats.

Yahya, 42, has not made public appearance since nearly all local TV channels in the whole week aired the sex tape.

"Yahya will start a new life as a different person," Vice President as well as Golkar Chairman Yusuf Kalla told reporters at his office Friday. Kalla said he received the resignation letter Thursday night.

In sharp contrast to Yahya, Maria, whom he had an affair, began enjoying blazing media coverage she never had before.

She held a press conference earlier this week and often appeared in TV programs after that.

Maria said it was her who taped the sex video using a cell phone back in 2004 but denied distributing it. She admitted that Yahya, a married man with two children, has made her pregnant and forced her to abort the baby.

However, she is to face police questioning scheduled on Monday for her abortion admission and pornographic charge.

Prominent legislator Permadi from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said love affair was not new in the parliament.

"Many legislators have another woman, they just haven't been caught on tape," said the outspoken lawmaker.

Source: Xinhua