Hamzah: The accidental politician
JAKARTA (JP): Hamzah Haz, the low-profile man newly entrusted to lead the Moslem-based United Development Party (PPP), is a self-styled, accidental politician.
Born in the West Kalimantan district of Ketapang on Feb. 15, 1940, Hamzah, known for his neat safari suit and slicked-back hair, usually hidden under his black peci cap, always dreamt of becoming an entrepreneur.
Hamzah was born in a remote village where his late father was an elementary school teacher. When the family moved to Ketapang to allow Hamzah to continue his studies, his father switched professions, becoming a contractor.
In People's Mouthpiece, Profile of 16 Selected House of Representatives Politicians, Hamzah says that his father was a business pioneer among the indigenous people in Ketapang. It was his father who inspired Hamzah to pursue entrepreneurship in his childhood.
"Today, there are no indigenous contractors from my father's generation. Their businesses had unhappy endings because they were unable to compete with the younger contractors who resorted to unfair tactics such as bribing officials," he says.
In fact, even today his childhood dreams remain. While he is busy politicking, the father of 12 children and husband to two wives -- Asmaniah and Titin Kartini -- runs a money changing business, Pawan Kapuas Money Changer.
Hamzah quit his illustrious stint at the House of Representatives, where he spent 20 years as a legislator, when President B.J. Habibie named him state minister of investment last May. Hamzah's last position in the House of Representatives was chief of the PPP faction.
After he finished Senior Economic High School in Ketapang in 1960, Hamzah joined Bebas newspaper in the West Kalimantan capital of Pontianak. A year later he became a teacher at Cooperative High School in Ketapang, which sent him to the State Cooperative Academy in Yogyakarta. Upon his return to Pontianak in 1965, he enrolled at Tanjungpura University's School of Economics, where he earned his BA in corporate management.
Hamzah moved to Jakarta in 1971 when he was appointed a House member representing Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).
In fact, Hamzah did not want to go to move to Jakarta and become a House member. If he had to take part in the political jungle, he wanted it to be as a member of the Provincial Legislative Council.
His political career began in 1968 when he became a member of the Provincial Legislative Council for Golkar, representing the 1966 Generation although he never dropped his NU membership.
Only 28 at the time, Hamzah was elected council chief, defeating the older Soewardi Puspojo from the Armed Forces faction. But he was never installed as chief for unknown reasons but he thought it was because he was "too young". He questioned the governor's that he was not installed because he was a member of NU, which already had a representative on the council's board of executives. The chairmanship went to Soewardi after a year's standoff.
In 1968, Hamzah decided to quit Golkar and concentrate on NU.
In the 1971 election, he was elected to both the Provincial Legislative Council and the House of Representatives as a representative from NU. He was forced to forget his dream of staying in Pontianak as a teacher and businessman.
Hamzah, then 31, was NU's youngest representative in Jakarta's House of Representatives. Aware that he had neither a santri (Islamic education) or an ulema background, he was motivated to learn more about the state economy.
NU and three other Islamic parties, Muslimin Indonesia, Syarikat Islam Indonesia and PERTI, merged into the United Development Party when in 1973 the Soeharto regime combined a dozen political parties into three: PPP, Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
Throughout his tenure, Hamzah had always sat on the committee which dealt with the state budget.
Hamzah is acclaimed for his shrewd analysis of state budgets. Although he came from an "opposition" party, the government would consult him when preparing the annual state budget.
"Before the government started to make state budget estimates, my colleague from the Finance Ministry usually came to me for consultations. When the budget bill was passed, people would be surprised to find my figures in the budget estimate," he recalls.
In his opinion, being a House member is not a profession, because one can be withdrawn at any time by the political organization they represent.
His obsession to return to his hometown in West Kalimantan prompted him in 1981 and 1992 to retire from the House and make way for younger members. But, he says, influential PPP leaders and activists urged him to stay on.
Hamzah acknowledges being a House member has been wonderful, not only because of the handsome financial rewards but also because the legislative body has been a good place to contribute ideas to help the country.
He is remembered for his insistence that the House should have more authority than the government in making the budget, as the Constitution says. He also argued that the House should not always buckle to the government's will and become a rubber stamp institution.
Hamzah likes to portray himself as a populist politician. He says that he goes to bed right after watching TVRI's 9 p.m. world news, and wakes up at 2:30 a.m. for a morning prayer. Then he will jog or go to the market with his wife, where he will talk with the common people he represents.
Hamzah's ascension to the PPP's top slot is rekindling hope for the party in the upcoming election, scheduled for June 7 next year.
His election shattered the myth that the PPP chairmanship always goes to a politician from the Muslimin Indonesia faction. In the past, this has stirred factional bickering within the party.
Hamzah pledge to woo back NU politicians who have scattered to numerous new political parties. NU leaders, unsatisfied with the existing parties, have established a total of five new political parties so far.
NU, a former political party that quit politics in 1984 to concentrate on its original social and educational missions, claims to have more than 30 million members -- mostly in rural areas.
"NU was merged into PPP, so it is just logical that its members remain in PPP," Hamzah said shortly after he emerged as the winner in the race for the party chairmanship.
Hamzah topped his closest competitor, A.M. Saefuddin, thanks to the solid support of NU leaders, who were badly divided in the past party chairmanship elections.
This time, NU leaders threatened to lend their support to other Islamic political parties if the PPP congress failed to elect Hamzah.
Soon after he was elected party leader, he had to answer the same question over and over again: "If the PPP wins the election, are you ready to become president?" And he gave the same answer time and again: "I don't even think about that. Let me build up the PPP first." (pan)