Currently speaker of the Regional Representative Council, he was formerly chairman of the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI).

During the first half of Djohar Arifin Husin's tenure, Mattalitti led the Indonesian Football Savior Committee (KPSI).

[2] Between the 2009 presidential election through 2018, he was a staunch supporter of Prabowo Subianto and his party Gerindra.

He the denounced the party citing demands by Prabowo and Gerindra for to him to pay Rp40 billion (around $2.5 million) for the East Java gubernatorial nomination in the 2018 election.

LaNyalla was elected as Chairman of the DPD RI by outperforming three other candidates, Nono Sampono, Mahyudin, and Sultan Baktiar Najamudin.