Hamzah Haz (born 15 February 1940) is an Indonesian politician who served as
vice president
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
of
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
from 2001 until 2004, under President
Megawati Sukarnoputri
Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Sukarnoputri (; born 23 January 1947) is an Indonesian politician who served as the fifth president of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004. She previously served as the eighth Vice President of Indonesia, vice president f ...
. He previously held the positions of
Minister of Investment and
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and Poverty Alleviation. A member of the
United Development Party
The United Development Party ( id, Partai Persatuan Pembangunan, sometimes translated as Development Unity Party; abbreviated PPP) is an Islam-basedAl-Hamdi, Ridho. (2013). ''Partai politik Islam: Teori dan praktik di Indonesia''. Yogyakarta: Grah ...
(PPP), he also served as the party's chairman from 1998 until 2007.
Career
Hamzah was a
newspaper journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
in his home town of
Pontianak
Pontianak or Khuntien is the capital of the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan, founded first as a trading port on the island of Borneo, occupying an area of 118.31 km2 in the delta of the Kapuas River at a point where it is joined ...
, on the island of
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...
, and later taught
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
at
Tanjungpura University
Tanjungpura University ( id, Universitas Tanjungpura) or UNTAN is a public university in the city of Pontianak in West Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Hamzah Haz, former Indonesian vice president, once taught at the university.
History
It was establishe ...
.
Article titled "Profile: Hamzah Haz" at the ''BBC News'' Web site, 26 July 2001, accessed 6 April 2007
His political career began in 1968 as a member of the
West Kalimantan
West Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Barat) is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital city is Pontianak, Indonesia, Pontianak. The province has ...
Provincial Representative Council. He later moved to
Jakarta
Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...
, became a member of the
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
in 1971, first as a member of the
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
Nahdlatul Ulama
Nahdlatul Ulama (, , NU) is an Islam in Indonesia, Islamic organization in Indonesia. Its membership estimates range from 40 million (2013) to over 95 million (2021), making it the largest Islamic organization in the world. NU also is a charitab ...
Party. After the political fusion which joined all Islamist parties into one party and the withdrawal of
Nahdlatul Ulama
Nahdlatul Ulama (, , NU) is an Islam in Indonesia, Islamic organization in Indonesia. Its membership estimates range from 40 million (2013) to over 95 million (2021), making it the largest Islamic organization in the world. NU also is a charitab ...
from politics, he became in 1973 a member of the newly formed
Partai Persatuan Pembangunan (PPP).
Hamzah served as Minister for Investment under President
B. J. Habibie
Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie (; 25 June 1936 – 11 September 2019) was an Indonesian engineer and politician who was the third president of Indonesia from 1998 to 1999. Less than three months after his inauguration as the seventh vice preside ...
, who replaced
Suharto
Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...
, then resigned that post to lead the PPP in the 1999 elections. He joined the cabinet of President
Abdurrahman Wahid
Abdurrahman Wahid ( ; born Abdurrahman ad-Dakhil; 7 September 1940 – 30 December 2009), though more colloquially known as Gus Dur (), was an Indonesian politician and Islamic religious leader who served as the 4th president of Indonesia, from ...
, then became the first to quit Wahid's first cabinet, resigning as Minister for People's Welfare after just two months.
He became a vocal critic of Wahid, but he is also known for his ability to compromise. By the time of Wahid's
impeachment
Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements.
In ...
in the summer of 2001, Hamzah was leader of the PPP, then the third-largest party in the
Indonesian Parliament
The People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, MPR-RI) is the legislative branch in Politics of Indonesia, Indonesia's political system. It is composed of the membe ...
.
As such, he became the obvious choice for the members of
People's Consultative Assembly
The People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, MPR-RI) is the legislative branch in Politics of Indonesia, Indonesia's political system. It is composed of the membe ...
to fill the vacancy of
Vice President
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
's office, as
Megawati Sukarnoputri
Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Sukarnoputri (; born 23 January 1947) is an Indonesian politician who served as the fifth president of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004. She previously served as the eighth Vice President of Indonesia, vice president f ...
moved up to the
Presidency
A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...
.
In the
2004 presidential election, Hamzah was one of the presidential candidates, running with
Agum Gumelar. The pair finished last among the five candidates, garnering only 3 percent of the total vote.
Connections with militant Islamism
A number of journalists and commentators have reported that Hamzah is believed to offer support for militant Muslim groups as a way of gaining political support from them. In 2002, Bill Guerin, in an opinion piece in the ''
Asia Times
''Asia Times'' (), formerly known as ''Asia Times Online'', is a Hong Kong-based English language news media publishing group, covering politics, economics, business, and culture from an Asian perspective. ''Asia Times'' publishes in English and ...
'' wrote, "Hamzah ... is widely seen as blatantly vying for support from among Indonesian Muslims, including the militant groups, to strengthen his run for the presidency in the country's next general elections in 2004."
Hamzah is also reported to be as an apologist for and friend of
Abu Bakar Bashir
Abu Bakar Ba'asyir ( ; ar, أبو بكر باعشير, ʾAbū Bakr Bāʿašīr; ; ; born 17 August 1938) also known as Abu Bakar Bashir, Abdus Somad, and Ustad Abu ("Teacher Abu") is an Indonesian Muslim cleric and leader of Jamaah Ansharut Tauh ...
, who is the spiritual leader for the
terrorist
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
organization
Jemaah Islamiyah
Jemaah Islamiyah ( ar, الجماعة الإسلامية, ''al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmiyyah'', meaning "Islamic Congregation", frequently abbreviated JI) is a Southeast Asian militant extremist Islamist terrorist group based in Indonesia, which i ...
. While vice president, Hamzah made a public show of inviting Bashir to dinner, and visited his jihadist
pesantren (religious school) in
Pondok Ngruki The Al-Mukmin Islamic boarding school also known as Pesantren Al-Mukmin and Pondok Ngruki, is a '' pesantren'' ('Islamic boarding school') located in Ngruki, a suburb in the city of Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia. It was founded 1972 by the ...
. Hamzah denied that Bashir was connected to terrorism up until Bashir's arrest in October 2002, and was quoted as saying before Bashir's arrest "If you want to arrest Abu Bakar Bashir .. you will have to deal with me first."
In October 2002, an article in ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' stated "That clerics like Abubakar
ashir
Ashir ( fa, اشير, also Romanized as Āshīr) is a village in Kuhestan Rural District, Kelardasht District, Chalus County, Mazandaran Province, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is ...
have powerful military and political allies is no secret: the nation's Vice-President Hamzah Haz is one of them." ''Time'' reported that Hamzah described his relationship with Bashir and
Laskar Jihad leader
Jafar Umar Thalib as "very close", but ''Time'' added, "many see this relationship as a purely political ploy to woo Muslim voters ahead of the 2004 election." Hamzah, although he "has a reputation as a wily politician" nevertheless "will be remembered for a particularly ill-judged speech before Muslim clerics at Abubakar's Solo boarding school in May
002 002, 0O2, O02, OO2, or 002 may refer to:
Fiction
*002, fictional British 00 Agent
*''002 Operazione Luna'',
*1965 Italian film
*Zero Two, a ''Darling in the Franxx'' character
Airports
*0O2, Baker Airport
*O02, Nervino Airport
Astronomy
*1996 ...
, the newsmagazine reported. During that visit Hamzah was also reported to have said, "If they can prove there are terrorists here I'll be the first to order an arrest", and then stepped down from the podium and kissed Abubakar on both cheeks.
In 2002, an Australian academic cited Hamzah as the "best example" of Islamic politicians in Indonesia "prepared to play the extremist card to attract extra votes". Hamzah "has supported Jemaah Islamiyah and has even been instrumental in having its members released from detention in the past", according to Tim Lindsey, director of the Asian Law Centre at the
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...
. "He has also openly accused the
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
and the United States of carrying out the Bali bombing."
Denial of terrorists in the country
In 2002 Hamzah gave an interview to the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
(ABC), which broadcast it on 23 October. In a
voice-over
Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-Diegetic#Film sound and music, diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, th ...
played during the television interview, an ABC journalist said, "Before the
Bali bombing, Vice President Hamzah Haz insisted there were no terrorists in Indonesia. After the bombing, he gave this extraordinary justification for that position:"
:Hamzah Haz press statement: "If I as vice president said that Indonesia has terrorists, no one would come to Indonesia, no investors would come."
The ABC interviewer then told Hamzah: "In light of Bali, that would seem a reprehensible comment, if you knew that people were here."
Hamzah responded: "It's not true that I protect them and I don't regret what I said, but I said it in the past – it relates to the past. But now if there is a connection we want to know whether it is true that Indonesia has a terrorist network."
Accusation of United States terrorism
On 3 September 2003 Hamzah stated, "Actually, who is the terrorist, who is against human rights? The answer is the United States because they attacked Iraq. Moreover, it is the terrorist king, waging war."
According to ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
'', Hamzah's statement was "a scathing attack that echoed the language of many of the Bali bombers". Hamzah had also been criticised for publicly associating with several of Indonesia's more hardline Islamic leaders, including Bashir, although after the Bali terrorist attack Hamzah severed those ties. Soon after Hamzah's remarks, Riza Sihbudi, a political analyst at the
Indonesian Institute of Sciences
The Indonesian Institute of Sciences ( id, Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia, or LIPI) was the governmental authority for science and research in Indonesia. It consists of 47 research centers in the fields ranging from social to natural scien ...
, told the Detik news service that Hamzah seemed to be chasing votes. "He should not have spoken like that as he is the Vice-President", Sihbudi said.
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...
reported the day after Hamzah's statement that "There has yet to be a US reaction to the well-known firebrand's comments."
Personal life
The Office of the Vice President officially states that Hamzah has two wives, Asmaniah (b. 27 July 1942), and Titin Kartini (b. 4 May 1946), with whom he has a total of 12 children. However, another source states Haz has a third wife, Soraya, whom he does not officially acknowledge, and with whom he has a further three children.
Hamzah Haz's son Nur Agus Haz, is a member of parliament for the
United Development Party
The United Development Party ( id, Partai Persatuan Pembangunan, sometimes translated as Development Unity Party; abbreviated PPP) is an Islam-basedAl-Hamdi, Ridho. (2013). ''Partai politik Islam: Teori dan praktik di Indonesia''. Yogyakarta: Grah ...
Degree
He is sometimes known as Dr. Hamzah; he is reported to have obtained a PhD from
American World University, an internet
diploma mill
A diploma mill (also known as a degree mill) is a company or organization that claims to be a higher education institution but provides illegitimate academic degrees and diplomas for a fee. The degrees can be fabricated (made-up), falsified (fa ...
, for US$1,200.
Notes
References
*Barton, Greg.(2005) ''Jemaah Islamiyah: Radical Islam in Indonesia'' Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haz, Hamzah
1940 births
Living people
People from Ketapang Regency
Indonesian people of Malay descent
United Development Party politicians
Chairmen of the United Development Party
Vice presidents of Indonesia
Indonesian Islamists
People using unaccredited degrees