National News
August 24, 2000
Brief profile of Gus Dur's reshuffled Cabinet
National News — August 24, 2000
JAKARTA (JP): Below is a brief profile of President Abdurrahman Wahid's
reshuffled Cabinet which consists of two coordinating minister, 16
ministers heading departments, five state minister and three junior
ministers.
Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs, Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono who's stature in the Cabinet has risen in the past few
months gets increased responsibility in this key post.
He along with Ryaas Rashid and Erna Witular were the initial conceptors
of the new Cabinet structure.
Formerly holding the post of Minister of Mines and Energy, Susilo is a
retired Army lieutenant-general.
Born in Pacitan, East Java, in 1949, he was the Indonesian Military's
chief of territorial affairs before his first appointment to the Cabinet in
October last year.
The father of two has a distinguished military career. In 1995 Susilo
acted chief of the military observers in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Before
being appointed to the Cabinet, many had predicted that he would one day
assume the mantle of TNI Chief.
His masters degree in management, which he earned from Webster University
in the United States, could be useful in his new coordinating post.
Coordinating Minister for the Economy Rizal Ramli was born in Padang,
West Sumatra on May 10, 1953, is known as one of the strongest critics of
the International Monetary Fund which he accused of dictating its will on
the Indonesian government.
A student activist while studying at the department of physics at the
Bandung Institute of Technology, Rizal was jailed for one year in 1978 for
leading a protest rally against the reelection of then president Soeharto.
After gaining a Ph.D in economics from Boston University in the United
States in 1990, he worked mostly as a consultant for private organizations
and companies through his economic research agency, Econit, until his
appointment as the chief of the National Logistics Agency in April.
Known as a close confidant of Abdurrahman, Rizal served as a consultant
for the Texmaco Group last October soon after the widely-diversified
conglomerate was embroiled in a nation-wide controversy and faced charges
of corruption in connection with the alleged abuse of US$1.3 billion in
government loans it obtained on the back of a strong recommendation from
then president Soeharto.
Minister of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy Surjadi Sudirdja retains
his post with the added responsibility of overseeing the anticipated
implementation of regional autonomy.
An Army career man, Surjadi's last rank was lieutenant general. But most
Jakartans will likely remember Surjadi as the city's governor between 1992
and 1997, and Greater Jakarta military commander in 1988.
Surjadi has built a reputation as a strict bureaucrat, not afraid to take
action against fraudulent city officials during his term as governor.
Born in Serang, West Java on Oct. 11, 1938, Surjadi is married to Sri
Soemarsih. They have two boys.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab is another "old" face in the
reshuffled Cabinet.
From the beginning there had been some speculation that he would be
replaced as he is known as a close confidant of President Abudurrahman Wahid.
Relatively new on the political scene, Alwi was a strong candidate to
challenge Matori Abdul Djalil as National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman
during the party congress in July. But his campaign flopped as Abdurrahman,
who helped found the party, decided to retain Matori.
It is not surprising that Abdurrahman would choose someone close and
like-minded as foreign minister, particularly since the President has said
he would concentrate more on foreign affairs and has pledged to task the
daily chores of government to the vice-president.
However before assuming the prestigious mantle of foreign minister Alwi
was regarded as a novice in the field.
Alwi was previously better known as a moderate Muslim intellectual who
also had a brief stint teaching Islamic studies at Harvard University.
Born on Aug. 19, 1946 in Rappang, South Sulawesi, he obtained a doctorate
in Islamic philosophy from the University of Ains Shams, both in Cairo.
Alwi's elder brother, Quraish Shihab, was minister of religious affairs
in former president Soeharto's last cabinet.
Alwi is married to Ashraf Shahab and has two children.
The selection of Mahfud MD as minister of defense was probably one of the
biggest surprises in the Cabinet shakeup.
The "MD" does not stand for 'medical doctor', but a popular acronym for
his full name Mohammad Mahfud Mahmodin.
He built a name for himself as a brilliant academic and a professor of
state administration at the Indonesian Islamic University in Yogyakarta
where he spent most of his scholastic career.
He received a doctorate for legal studies from Gadjah Mada University in
1993.
In recent years he has been a political and social commentator, but maybe
due to his domicile he has not yet gained nation-wide recognition.
What makes his appointment even more surprising to the key post of
minister of defense is that he is not known for being affiliated with any
political grouping.
He takes over the ministry from the popular and well-liked Juwono Sudarsono
who became the first civilian to lead the department since the 1950s.
Many will be looking to Mahfud to continue the revamping of the military
administration which Juwono has begun.
A Madurese, Mahfud, 43, is married to Zaizatun Nihayati, 41. They have two
sons and a girl.
His last official government position was as an expert staff member at
the State Ministry of Human Rights Affairs.
Minister of Finance Prijadi Praptosuhardjo is perhaps the most
controversial appointee in the Cabinet due to his failure in April to pass
a "fit-and-proper" test by the central bank for the presidency of the Bank
Rakyat Indonesia.
It would not be too much to say that his appointment is due to his close
acquaintance to President Abdurrahman Wahid who claims that Prijadi was the
conceptor of the micro-credit program.
Despite failing the test, the President was adamant another test be
conducted to qualify him for the top slot at the bank. But central bank's
Governor Sjahril Sabirin at the time did not budge.
Prijadi's failure of the central bank's test had reportedly worsened
Abdurrahman's relations with Sjahril who is now under detention at the
Attorney General's Office over charges of corruption in connection with the
Bank Bali scandal.
Prijadi graduated from the fisheries department of the Bogor Institute of
Agriculture, started his career at state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia in 1968.
Born in Klaten, Central Java, in 1939, Prijadi was formerly a director of
state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia.
Minister of Religious Affairs Tolchah Hasan retains his post. A Nahdlatul
Ulama (NU) family man who previously held the post of Rois Syariah, or law
making body, in the country's largest Muslim organization.
Born on Oct. 10, 1936 in Tuban, East Java, he was in the past also active
in the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI) which was
headed for many years by former president B.J. Habibie.
Tolchah is married to Sholichah Noor and has three children.
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bungaran Saragih was a lecturer at
the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) and a well-known commentator on
agricultural issues.
Born on April 17, 1945 in Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra, he studied
agricultural economy at the IPB and then pursued his studies at North
Carolina State University where he obtained a doctoral degree in economics
in 1980.
He is officially a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
but has not held a core executive position.
Minister of National Education Yahya Muhaimin retains his post in the new
Cabinet.
The former dean of the political and social affairs department at Gadjah
Mada University was education attache at the Indonesian Embassy in the
United States before being called home in October to assume his Cabinet post.
Born in Bumiayu, Central Java, on May 17, 1943, Yahya earned a doctorate
degree in political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
1982.
Yahya is known to be a close friend of People's Consultative Assembly
Speaker and National Mandate Party chairman Amien Rais as they were both
lecturers at Gadjah Mada.
Yahya is married to Choifah and has three daughters and one son.
Minister of Health Ahmad Suyudi is another one of those who survived the
reshuffle. Not surprising, however, as few can claim to know the ministry
as well as he does.
Ahmad has built a career in the ministry which goes back three decades.
He was Director General of Contagious Diseases and Settlement Environmental
Sanitation before being appointed to head the ministry in October.
Born in Bondowoso, East Java, on April 11, 1941, he graduated from the
School of Medicine, University of Indonesia, 1972.
He earned a masters degree from the School of Health Services Management,
at the University of New South Wales, Australia, in 1990.
Agum Gumelar retains his post as minister of communications in the new
Cabinet.
Born on Aug. 1, 1945 in Tasikmalaya, Agum is a retired lieutenant-general
who has occupied several strategic posts during his military career,
including commander of the Army's Special Forces.
He was governor of the National Resilience Institute, a military think-
tank, before being appointed minister last year.
Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Al Hilal Hamdi takes over the
merged portfolio of the ministry of manpower and the state ministry of
transmigration and population.
Hilal was the previous minister to the latter department.
Formerly deputy secretary general of the National Mandate Party (PAN),
his inclusion in the Cabinet lineup is seen by many as representing the
Axis Force.
A mining engineer who specialized in oil exploration, Hilal graduated
from the Bandung Institute of Technology in 1980. He ran his own business
before he joined state-owned electricity firm PLN two years ago as an
energy consultant.
Born on March 28, 1954 in Cilacap, Central Java, Hilal married Usdiati
Endah Purwati, and they have raised three children.
It remains to be seen how he will navigate the two particular issues of
transmigration and manpower, particularly the latter as the plight of
Indonesian laborers both at home and overseas is rising on the nation's
agenda.
Luhut Binsar Panjaitan retains his post as minister of industry and trade
which he was appointed to in April in replacement of Yusuf Kalla who was
axed by the President.
A career militaryman, Luhut was previously Indonesian ambassador to
Singapore. His previous rank was lieutenant-general.
The father of four obtained a masters degree in public policy from George
Washington University.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro is deputy
governor of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas), a military think-
tank.
Purnomo has ample experience in the country's energy industry and
previously assumed several posts at the ministry along with the state oil
and gas company Pertamina.
He was an expert staff member on oil affairs to former minister of mines
and energy I.B. Sudjana before taking over the post at Lemhanas in 1998.
Born on June 16, 1951 in Semarang, Purnomo graduated from the prestigious
Institute Technology of Bandung's (ITB) School of Oil, where he received a
scholarship from oil company Total Indonesie.
He then pursued his studies at the Colorado School of Mines where he
obtained a doctoral degree. He took a brief teaching job at the university,
before deciding to return to Indonesia.
The father of two replaces Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the ministry.
Minister of Law and Human Rights Affairs Yusril Ihza Mahendra is an
academic turned politician who began to grab attention in the latter years
of Soeharto's presidency working as a speech writer at the State
Secretariate.
He formally entered politics after the fall of the New Order to establish
and head the Crescent Star Party which ended up with 13 seats in the House
of Representative.
He shot to further fame during his role in the October General Session of
the People's Consultative Assembly, as many of his legal opinions helped
the Assembly avoid constitutional flaws.
Born in on Feb. 5, 1956, Yusril graduated from the School of Law and School
of Letters at the University of Indonesia. Yusril completed a
master's degree in law and Islamic knowledge at the same university. He
earned his doctorate from the University Sains in Penang, Malaysia in 1992.
He is married to Sukaesih and has a daughter.
Minister of Housing and Regional Development Erna Witolear is one of two
women in the Cabinet, both of whom are survivors from the previous Cabinet.
She was part of the three-member team which helped draft the Cabinet
structure.
Wife of former Golkar Secretary General and Indonesian ambassador to
Russia, Rachmat Witular, Erna was widely recognized as an environmental
activist.
Born in Sengkang, South Sulawesi on Feb. 6, 1947, Erna chaired the
Consumers Protection Agency between 1986 and 1989.
Minister of Tourism and Culture I Gede Ardika, who was the ministry's
deputy for Tourism Product Development on his appointment, spent most of
his career in the tourism industry and the ministry after graduating from
the Arts School of the prestigious Institute Technology of Bandung.
He pursued his studies in hotel management at the Glion, Swiss
International Institute.
Born on Feb. 15, 1945 in Buleleng, Bali, Ardika has two children.
Ardika replaces Hidayat Djaelani.
Minister of Maritime Exploration Sarwono Kusumaatmadja is one of the few
individuals to have served under the Soeharto presidency and is a former
secretary-general of Golkar. However his name is not closely associated
with the former ruling political party.
In fact he was known as quite a vocal critic of the party.
Born on July 24, 1943. He graduated from Bandung Institute of
Technology's Civil Technical School in 1974.
State Minister for Women's Affairs Khofifah Indar Parawansa retains her
post.
She first began to grab attention as an outspoken legislator in the House
of Representatives as a representative of the United Development Party in
the mid-1990s.
But her allegiance lies with Nahdlatul Ulama and she is a noted figure in
the National Awakening Party.
Born in Surabaya on May 15, 1965, she is the youngest member of the Cabinet.
Khofifah attributes her political career to her deep involvement in
student activities when she studied at the School of Social and Political
Sciences at the Airlangga University in her hometown. She was an executive
of the Indonesian Muslim Student Movement until she graduated in 1990.
Married to Indar Parawansa, a civil servant at the Agency for
Environmental Control in Makassar, Khofifah has one daughter and two sons.
State Minister for Administrative Reform Ryaas Rasyid has to relinquish
his former post as minister for regional autonomy which has been merged
with the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Before his Cabinet posting in October, Ryaas was director general of the
general administrative and regional autonomy section of the home affairs
ministry.
Born in Dec. 7, 1949 in Gowa, South Sulawesi, Ryaas is a noted legal
expert and former rector of the State Institute for Public Administration.
He began his career in bureaucracy as a subdistrict chief in Melayu,
Makassar and the capital Ujungpandang.
He received his master's degree in politics and public administration at
the Northern Illinois University in the United States in 1988, and his PhD
from the University of Hawaii.
State Minister of Cooperatives Zarkasih Nur is another returnee from the
previuos Cabinet.
Born on April 21, 1940, in Ciputat, South Jakarta, Zarkasih received most
of his education in Islamic schools.
He was a central figure in the United Development Party (PPP) and headed
the party's faction at the House before becoming a minister.
State Minister of Environment Sonny Keraf was born in Flores in East Nusa
Tenggara on June 1, 1958. A lecturer at Atma Jaya Catholic University since
1988, Sonny headed the ethics development center at the university until
earlier this year.
Graduating from Drijarkara School of Philosophy in 1988, Sonny took his
doctorate at the Higher Institute of Philosophy Catholieke Universiteit
Leuven in Belgium with a thesis on business ethics in the free market in
1995. He also took a master's degree from the same university in 1992.
A father of three children, Sonny worked as an editor for Jakarta-based
book publisher Obor between 1985 and 1988 and has attended a number of
seminars.
He retains his post in the Cabinet.
State Minister of Research and Technology Muhammad Athoillah Sohibul
Hikam personally admits that while he is known as a good friend of the
Abdurrahman Wahid, he has rarely been able to meet the President since
being appointed to the Cabinet in October.
Nevertheless his name apparently is still high in the President's mind as
he has been again charged with heading the department which had become so
synonymous with former president B.J. Habibie.
Hikam was previously known as a senior researcher at the state National
Institute of Science (LIPI). Unlike pure scientists who adopt a 'value-
free' stance for the sake of impartiality, Hikam opted to side with the
proreform movement and become a government critic.
He repeatedly expressed his support for Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, and prior to the presidential
election earlier this month he joined a group of LIPI researchers in
rejecting the nomination of former president B.J. Habibie.
Born in Tuban, East Java, a stronghold of Nahdlatul Ulama, on April 26,
1958, he graduated from the School of Letters at Gadjah Mada University in
Yogyakarta in 1981. Six years later he took a master's degree in mass
communication at the University of Hawaii, where he also earned his
master's and doctorate in politics in 1994 and 1995 respectively.
Hikam is married to Pudji Winarni. They have a daughter.
Former minister of forestry and plantations Nurmahmudi Ismail has become
junior minister of forestry in the new Cabinet.
Ismail, who was born in Kediri, Central Java, is the co-founder and
chairman of the Justice Party (PK).
A father of three, Machmudi graduated from the Bogor Institute of
Agriculture in 1984 and received his doctorate in animal husbandry from
Texas A & M in the United States.
His party joined Amien Rais' National Mandate Party to form the Reform
faction in the People's Consultative Assembly.
Manuel Kaisiepo is charged with taking up the new office of junior minister
for the acceleration for the development of eastern Indonesia which will be
attached to the Coordinating Ministry for Political Affairs, Welfare and
Security.
He started out his career as a journalist and in recent years is better
known as a columnist in Kompas daily.
Born on Christmas Day 1953 in Biak, Irian Jaya, Manuel is married to Erna
Riswati and has three children.
Junior Minister for the Reconstruction of the National Economy Cacuk
Sudarijanto, who was born on Jan.29, 1948.
He was a director of USI/IBM computer company until 1980 when he moved to
state-owned PT Indosat as director and then served as the president of
state-owned PT Telkom between 1988 and 1992.
His official curriculum vitae does not mention much about his educational
background, except short executive courses at the University of California,
Berkeley, in 1984 and at the MIT Sloan School of Management in Boston, U.S.
After quitting PT Telkom in 1992, reportedly over his disagreement with
then president Soeharto about the awarding of some telecommunications
contracts, he served as president of a small private bank, Bank Mega.
Under the Habibie administration, Cacuk served as director general for
small and medium-scale enterprises until late 1999 when he was appointed
by President Abdurrahman as deputy chairman of IBRA and later in January as
chairman of the same agency. (team)