Profiles of the Christian politicians
JAKARTA (JP): Politicians from minority groups were strongly represented in the Cabinets of the republic's early years. They decreased in number mainly since the 1980s when the Soeharto government leaned more toward Muslims. The following compiles a sketch of six leading Christian, Catholic and Protestant politicians:
Arnold Wilson Mononutu (1896-1983) was an executive of the Indonesian National Party (PNI), one of the country's first parties. He was also minister of information in three Cabinets, the last under prime minister Wilopo (1952-1953).
Earlier (1925-1927) Arnold chaired Perhimpunan Indonesia, an association of students studying in the Netherlands which was established by the first vice president, Mohammad Hatta.
This association is considered to have been one of the main sources of early statesmen in modern Indonesian history. In the Netherlands, Arnold studied English, Dutch and French literature, and then majored in international law in Paris.
From 1953 to 1955, Arnold was appointed envoy to mainland China.
He was a member of the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly in 1962 and his last position in the government was as a member of the Supreme Advisory Board. Arnold was also rector of one of the country's oldest universities, Hasanuddin University in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, from 1960 to 1965.
He was a recipient of the Bintang Mahaputera RI award for his services, one of the highest honors from the government.
Johannes Leimena (1905-1977), was once chairman of the Indonesian Christian Party (Parkindo) and served in a number of Cabinets. Leimena was educated at the Dutch medical school Stovia in Surabaya and the GHS medical school in Jakarta. After graduating in 1939, he worked at a government hospital and in 1942 was appointed director of a hospital in Purwakarta, West Java. Historian Soebagijo I.N. records that Leimena escaped the threat of execution under the Japanese colonial government when he cured a high-ranking Japanese official. Intellectuals were then targets of abductions and killings.
Leimena started his ministerial career in 1946 when he was appointed minister of health under prime minister Syahrir, and last served in the 1966 Cabinet. He was always one of the government representatives in negotiations with the Dutch.
Leimena was a founder of the Maluku Youth Association. He represented his hometown province in the House of Representatives following the 1955 elections. Leimena was one of the ministers considered close to president Sukarno.
Albert Mangaratua Tambunan (1911-1970) was once chairman of Parkindo and was also known for his role in education. Born in Tapanuli in Sumatra, he acquired a law degree in 1942.
He received a honoris causa doctorate degree from the Jakarta School of Theology. From 1950 he was deputy speaker of the House of Representatives until a 1959 presidential decree ended the parliamentary period. He served as minister of social affairs in three Cabinets until his death.
He taught in a number of schools, most of them Christian. He was chairman of the Jakarta Association of Christian Students and advisor to other Christian youth organizations.
Franciscus Xaverius Seda (1926- ), or Frans Seda, was chairman of the Catholic Party which he represented in parliament.
He has consulted the government on economic affairs since 1956 when he was economic councilor for the military governor of Nusa Tenggara. From 1964 he was subsequently minister of plantations agriculture, finance and transportation and tourism. He is now economic advisor to President B.J. Habibie and has frequently written columns on political and economic affairs. He studied economics in Tilburg, the Netherlands.
Born in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, the noted businessman once chaired the Indonesian Textile Association.
Tempo magazine's compilation of public figures notes that Seda, a son of an elementary school principal, took a number of odd jobs such as a grass cutter and a milk seller while attending junior high school in Central Java.
Seda also founded Atma Jaya University. He was appointed envoy to Brussels, Belgium and Luxembourg and also represented Indonesia in the European Economic Community. He was a member of the Supreme Advisory Board from 1976 to 1978.
Ignatius Joseph Kasimo (1900 - 1986) was Frans Seda's predecessor as chairman of the Catholic Party. He was born in Yogyakarta and attended the School of Agriculture in Bogor. He became active in the Bogor branch of the student organization, Jong Java, which he chaired in 1920.
The student organization was part of the nationalistic movement in the early century.
He was also once a member of the Supreme Advisory Board.
Tempo notes as a child he was busy helping the family sell batik and working in the family's ricefield.
Kasimo was among the founders of "Liga Demokrasi" formed with other politicians including Mohammad Roem in 1960. It was banned by president Sukarno, who was bent on giving power to the Indonesian Communist Party which Kasimo considered a danger.
Sabam Sirait (1936- ), one of the politicians of the younger generation compared to the aforementioned, he is best known for being among the small number of vocal legislators at the "rubber- stamp" House of Representatives. He used to represent the Indonesian Democratic Party, and is now an activist of its breakaway faction, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).
His father, F.H. Sirait, was a Parkindo founder.
A Protestant born in Tanjungbalai, North Sumatra, he was largely educated in North Sumatra before attending the University of Indonesia's School of Law in Jakarta, from which he failed to graduate.
Sabam was a student activist and was an executive of the Movement of Indonesian Christian Students until 1967.
He was also Parkindo secretary-general from 1967 to 1973 and was a legislator from 1967 to 1971.
He was the Indonesian Democratic Party's secretary-general from 1973 to 1986 and a member of the Supreme Advisory Board from 1983. (anr)