Brief profile of Gus Dur's reshuffled Cabinet

Brief profile of Gus Dur's reshuffled Cabinet

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)