A who's who of members of the National Unity Cabinet
JAKARTA (JP): The so-called National Unity Cabinet, announced on Tuesday, lives up to its name as it groups people from different sociocultural backgrounds, professions and political affiliations.
Some of the new ministers are "nobodies" to the media, compared to their colleagues who often appear on television or in print.
State Minister of Research and Technology Muhammad Athoillah Sohibul Hikam is a noted political analyst and 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 lives in a modest housing complex in Karawaci, Tangerang mayoralty in West Java with his wife Pudji Winarni and their only child Halida Putri Widyastuti.
Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Adm. Widodo AS has perhaps been groomed to take the top post in the armed forces since he was named deputy to Gen. Wiranto in August. Born in Boyolali, Central Java on Aug. 1, 1944, Widodo is the first non-Army soldier to clinch the job.
A graduate of the Navy Academy in 1968, Widodo's star started to rise when he was appointed chief of maritime defense of the western fleet in 1993. He was named the fleet's commander in 1995, before taking office as Navy deputy chief in 1997 and Navy chief in 1998.
In an interview published by a magazine recently, Widodo, the son of a modest teacher, said his chose the Navy Academy for a simple reason. "I wanted to go to school without having to pay the school fee," he said.
For Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono, military affairs is not a new field since he served as Deputy Governor of the National Resilience Council, the TNI think-tank. His appointment marked the return of a civilian to the post which used to go to military or retired military officers. Djuanda, an engineer, was the last civilian to hold the portfolio during founding president Sukarno's regime.
Juwono has now held a ministerial post under three different presidents. Before President Abdurrahman Wahid picked him upon the recommendation of Gen. Wiranto, Juwono served as minister of environment under Soeharto for two months and a minister of education and culture in B.J. Habibie's 16-month-old Reform Development.
Born in Ciamis, West Java on March 5, 1942, Juwono spent most of his life in the education arena. After graduating from the University of Indonesia in 1965, he taught politics at his alma mater.
Among the scientific titles under his belt are a diploma in International Law he took in Den Haag, the Netherlands, a master's degree from the University of California, the United States, and Ph.D from the London School of Economics and Political Science. A father of two sons, Juwono was promoted to professor in political science in 1989.
State Minister of Tourism and Arts Hidayat Zaelani has known Abdurrahman Wahid long before the latter was elected the president.
Born in Bandung on June 16, 1937, Hidayat, a graduate of the School of Economics at Padjadjaran University in his hometown, nurtured his career at the state postal company PT Pos Indonesia. He was named the company's finance director in 1994, before being appointed a commissioner earlier this year.
Residents of Jakarta are familiar with Minister of Home Affairs Surjadi Soedirdja, who served as the city's governor between 1992 and 1997.
The career of Surjadi, a retired Army lieutenant general, looked like coming to an end after he relinquished his post as Jakarta governor. Prior to the announcement of the last Cabinet team under Soeharto in 1997, Surjadi was mentioned by many as a strong candidate for the ministerial post he now holds.
Before his appointment to the Cabinet, Surjadi, who was born in Serang, West Java on Oct. 11, 1938, held no position in the bureaucracy.
Surjadi extends the list of former governors who take up the home affairs portfolio after the late Suparjo Roestam of Central Java and Yogie S. Memet of West Java.
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.
State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Mahadi Sinambela follows in the footsteps of his fellow Golkar executives to hold this nonportfolio post after Abdul Gafur, Akbar Tandjung and Agung Laksono.
Born in Tanjungbalai in North Sumatra on Aug. 5, 1947, he graduated from the School of Social and Political Sciences at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta in 1974. He then joined the bureaucracy as an employee of the Ministry of Home Affairs until 1994, when he was elected as a House of Representatives legislator.
He represented the Golkar Party at the General Elections Commission (KPU), before joining the People's Consultative Assembly as the North Sumatra representative.
For Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi, this post will crown his 27-year-long career as a civil servant at the same ministry. His last position was Director General of Contagious Diseases and Settlement Environmental Sanitation, Ministry of Health, from June 1998.
Born in Bondowoso, East Java, on April 11, 1941, he graduated from the School of Medicine, University of Indonesia, 1972. Eight years later he earned a degree in surgery from the same university. He continued his studies with the Master Program of the School of Health Services Management, The New University of New South Wales, Australia. He completed his studies in 1990.
A Muslim, he lives with his family in Bumi Serpong Damai, Tangerang. There is little information about his family.
President Abdurrahman Wahid said he expected Minister of National Education Yahya Muhaimin to arrive soon from Washington, where he is currently serving as an education attache at the Indonesian Embassy in the United States.
Born in Bumiayu, Central Java, on May 17, 19433, Yahya graduated from the School of Social and Political Sciences, Gadjah Mada University in 1971. He earned his Ph.D in political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S. in 1982.
A close friend of People's Consultative Assembly chairman Amien Rais when they were lecturers at Gadjah Mada, he is married to Choifah and has three daughters and one son.
Minister of Finance Bambang Sudibyo openly acknowledged on Tuesday that his close friend, speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly Amien Rais, played a major role in his appointment to the ministerial post.
Born in Temanggung, Central Java, on Oct. 8, 1952, Bambang spent most of his career at Gadjah Mada University, where he completed his studies in economics in 1977. After taking his MBA from the University of North Carolina in 1980, he obtained his Ph.D from the University of Kentucky five years later.
His current position is that of director of the Magister Management Program at his alma mater.
Known as a devout Muslim, he is married to Retno Sunarminingsih, a pharmaceutical doctor, who gave him two sons.
Minister of Transportation Lt. Gen. (ret) Agum Gumelar is known as a general who has strong capabilities in dealing with student demonstrations, such as he proved when he was in charge of Sulawesi security a few years ago.
Born in Tasikmalaya, on Dec. 17, 1945, Agum graduated from the National Military Academy in 1968. He was the commander of the Army's Special Force (Kopassus) from July 1993 to Aug. 1994.
He played an important role in helping Megawati Soekarnoputri win the top position of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) in 1993.
A soccer enthusiast, Agum chairs the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI). A devout Muslim, he is married to Linda Achmad Tahir, daughter of former telecommunications and tourism minister Achmad Tahir, in 1974, who gave him two children.
Coordinator Minister of People's Welfare Hamzah Haz served as state minister for investment, until May, under then President B.J. Habibie.
Hamzah, 59, is the chairman of the Muslim-oriented United Development Party (PPP), and has been a career politician since the 1971 general election when he was a candidate for the then Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Party.
Megawati defeated him in the vice presidential election on Thursday.
Born in West Kalimantan, Hamzah is the father of 12 children.
Minister of Manpower Bomer Pasaribu is not a new comer to manpower affairs, because he is currently the chairman of the Indonesian Workers Association (SPSI).
Bomer, a Muslim, was born in South Tapanuli, North Sumatra, on Aug. 22, 1943. He earned his degree from a private university in Medan. He had previously served as member of the House of Representatives' Golkar faction.
Minister of Religious Affairs Tholhah Hasan was born on Oct. 10, 1936 in Tuban, East Java, from an NU family. He has to leave his position of chairman of the foundation which runs the Malang University of Islam (Unisma), and his position as Rois Syuriah, or law making body, of NU.
A graduate of the University of Brawijaya in Malang, Tholhah is also active in the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI).
He is married to Sholichah Noor and has three grown-up children.
Attorney General Marzuki Darusman has a nationwide reputation as a human rights protector. He is the chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights and deputy chairman of Golkar.
He was born in Bogor on Jan. 26, 1946. He graduated from the School of Law at the Catholic University of Parahiyangan Bandung, majoring in international law.
Widely known for his criticism of previous governments, Marzuki played a major role in restoring Golkar's image as a political vehicle of the New Order regime.
He is married with one child.
Coordinating Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry Kwik Kian Gie is widely known as a columnist. Born on Jan. 11, 1935, in Central Java, Kwik graduated in 1963 from the Nederlandsche Economische Hogeschools in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Between 1971 and the late 1980s, Kwik worked for various financial and manufacturing firms before leaving the world of business to lead the Indonesian Business Institute.
Kwik was elected to the People's Consultative Assembly in 1987 as a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party and became deputy chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) in 1998. He was elected deputy speaker of the Assembly earlier this month.
Minister of Investment and State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi is another top official from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle in the National Unity Cabinet.
Born on Oct. 1, 1956, Laksamana, a father of three, graduated from the prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology in 1979.
He began his banking career in 1981 at Citibank, before moving to Bank Umum Asia, which was owned by Mochtar Riady, the founder of the Lippo Group.
Laksamana was one of the architects behind the merger of Bank Umum Asia and Bank Lippo BPI in 1988; a merger which resulted in the formation of Lippo Bank.
Laksamana was the managing director of Lippo Bank from 1988 to 1993, when he left the banking industry to lead a consulting firm and enter politics.
He is currently vice chairman of PDI Perjuangan.
Minister of Mines and Energy Lt. Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was born in Pacitan, East Java, in 1949. He was the Indonesian Military's chief of territorial affairs before his appointment to the Cabinet.
Known as an intellectual, Bambang graduated from the Indonesian Military Academy in 1973 and later earned a master's degree in management from Webster University in the United States.
He acted as the chief of military observers in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995.
The father of two will oversee the country's oil, gas and mining industries, which are expected to provide a large portion of the state budget's revenue amid the current economic crisis and declining tax revenues.
Minister of Agriculture Mohamad Prakosa, 39, is one of the youngest members of the Cabinet. Born in Yogyakarta, Prakosa, an agricultural expert, is currently the deputy representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
A father of three teenagers, Prakosa said on Tuesday he never dreamed of becoming the minister of agriculture.
During a recent seminar, Prakosa called for the establishment of an integrated agribusiness system with market-oriented characteristics to enable the agriculture sector to develop.
A member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, Prakosa obtained his master's degree from the University of Tennessee in the United States and his doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley.
Minister of Trade and Industry Jusuf Kalla is a noted indigenous businessman who controls the diversified Bukaka Group.
He was born on May 15, 1942, in Makassar, South Sulawesi, the same province which produced former president B.J. Habibie and former state minister of the empowerment of state enterprises Tanri Abeng
Jusuf graduated from Hasanuddin University's School of Economics in his hometown in 1967.
He currently chairs the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's board of counselors in South Sulawesi.
Minister of Maritime Exploration Sarwono Kusumaatmadja was born on July 24, 1943. He graduated from Bandung Institute of Technology's Civil Technical School in 1974.
A former secretary-general of Golkar, Sarwono served in several of former president Soeharto's Cabinets.
He served as minister of the utilization of state apparatus from 1988 to 1993 and state minister of environment from 1993 to 1998.
Minister of Forestry and Plantations Nur Machmudi Ismail, who was born in Kediri, Central Java, is the cofounder and chairman of the Justice Party (PK).
A father of three, Machmudi graduated from the Bogor Agricultural Institute in 1984 and received his doctorate in husbandry from Texas A & M in the United States.
His party joined Amien Rais' National Mandate Party (PAN) to form the Reform faction in the People's Consultative Assembly.
State Minister of Cooperatives Zarkasih Nur is a leading figure in the United Development Party (PPP). He headed the party's faction in the House of Representatives before being named to the Cabinet.
Born on April 21, 1940, in Ciputat, South Jakarta, Zarkasih received most of his education in Islamic schools.
He graduated from Jakarta's State Institute for Islamic Studies in 1973 and was an official in the information ministry until 1981, when he left to begin a political career.
Minister of Transmigration and Population Al Hilal Hamdi is a mining engineer who specializes in oil exploration. Graduated from the Bandung Institute of Technology in 1980, Hilal 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.
The former student activist joined the National Mandate Party, where he began to nurture ties with the party's chairman Amien Rais. Up to now, Hilal has held the deputy secretary post in the party.
Minister of Public Works Rafiq Boedioro Soetjipto relinquished his post as director general of mining at the Ministry of Mines and Energy to take up his new position.
Born on Aug. 20, 1949 in Karanganyar, Central Java, Rafiq graduated from the Mining School of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) in 1968. He then received a doctorate degree in metallurgy from the Catholieke Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium.
He has one child.
State Minister for Women's Affairs Khofifah Indar Parawansa has long been recognized for her outspoken performance since she served a term as a House of Representatives legislator in 1992.
Born in Surabaya on May 15, 1965, she is the youngest member of the Cabinet. Raised in a traditional Muslim society, Khofifah said she could not turn down an offer from President Abdurrahman Wahid, her idol, like she did when the charismatic Muslim leader asked her to join the National Awakening Party (PKB) he founded.
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.
She is completing her master's degree at the University of Indonesia.
Married to Indar Parawansa, a civil servant at the Agency for the Environment Control in Makassar, Khofifah has one daughter and two sons.
Minister of Law and Legal Affairs Yusril Ihza Mahendra is one of only two professors who join Abdurrahman Wahid's Cabinet.
Graduated from the School of Law and School of Letters at the University of Indonesia, Yusril completed a master's degree on law and Islamic knowledge at the same university. He earned his doctorate from the Universities Sains in Penang, Malaysia in 1992.
He played an outstanding role during the recent General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly, not only because of his last minute withdrawal from the presidential race, but his legal advice and opinions that helped the Assembly avoid constitutional flaws.
Following the fall of the New Order in May last year, Yusril founded the Crescent Star Party, which came in sixth in the June polls with 13 House of Representative seats.
The Sumatra native, who was born on Feb. 5, 1956, is married to Sukaesih and has a daughter.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab is known as a moderate Muslim intellectual and is a former professor in Islamic studies at Harvard University.
Born on Aug. 19, 1946 in Rappang, South Sulawesi, he obtained his master's degree in theology from Al Azhar University and a doctorate in Islamic philosophy from the University of Ains Shams, both in Cairo.
Devoted to comparative studies of religion, he is a member of the International Connections Committee and the American Academy of Religion in Atlanta.
Until he was appointed minister, Alwi was deputy chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB), the political party founded by Abdurrahman Wahid.
Alwi's elder brother, Quraish Shihab, was the minister of religious affairs in former president Soeharto's short-lived Cabinet between March and May last year.
Married to Ashraf Shahab, Alwi has two children.
President Abdurrahman Wahid appointed an Aceh human rights activist Hasballah M. Saad the State Minister of Human Rights Affairs after calls increased for him to address decades of abuse in Aceh, which has led to mounting pressure for separation.
Born in Pidie on July 14, 1948, Hasballah, a son of a poor rice farmer, had served as a teacher in an isolated elementary school in Aceh for seven years. He spent 15 active years in human rights watch groups before jumping into politics.
He joined the National Mandate Party (PAN) of leading reformist Amien Rais when it was founded in August 1998, and became its representative in the General Elections Commission. He secured one of 34 House of Representative seats won by PAN in the June elections.
Minister of Regional Autonomy Ryaas Rasyid is another new face in the Cabinet. He was the former director general of the general administrative and regional autonomy section of the home affairs ministry under Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid.
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, the capital of 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.
Coordinating Minister for Politic Affairs and Security Wiranto is one of six Cabinet members with a military background. Born in Yogyakarta on April 4, 1947, Wiranto has now served as a minister in three different Cabinets.
He was a key witness in the transfer of power from Soeharto to his successor B.J. Habibie following a wave of student demonstrations in May last year.
Wiranto surprised everyone when he rejected Habibie's request to run as his vice president, dealing a major blow to the former president's reelection bid.
Amid strong calls for the military to step back from politics, Wiranto gave way to Megawati Soekarnoputri to clinch the vice presidency.
Wiranto is married to Rugaiyah and has three children.
State Secretary Ali Rahman was the Deputy to State Employees Administration Chief when President Abdurrahman Wahid recruited him.
The graduate of Bogor Agricultural Institute began his career in the bureaucracy at the National Development Planning Board. He took a doctorate degree in the United States in 1984.
He was born in Menggala-Tulangbawang in Lampung in 1944. Ali, a former student activist, is married to Mirna Ali, who gave him two children.
Minister of Administrative Reforms Rear Admiral Freddy Numberi is the first Irian native to hold a ministerial post in Indonesia's 54 year-old history. He is also one of the only two Navy members who join President Abdurrahman Wahid's cabinet.
Until now Numberi, a former Navy's eastern fleet commander, is Irian Jaya governor, the post he has held since March last year.
Born in a remote island of Serui in Yapen Waropen regency on Oct. 15, 1947, Numberi passed the admission test to the Navy Academy in 1968.
Minister of Housing and Regional Development Erna Witolear is the other female cabinet member under President Abdurrahman Wahid. The wife of former Indonesian ambassador to Russia Rachmat Witoelar is widely recognized as nongovernmental organization activist.
Born in Sengkang, South Sulawesi on Feb. 6, 1947, Erna chaired the Consumers Protection Agency between 1986 and 1989.