Laksamana Sukardi (born 1 October 1956) is an Indonesian politician, reformist and banker who served as

Minister of State Owned Enterprises The Minister of State Owned Enterprises is the government minister in New Zealand responsible for trading enterprises owned by the New Zealand Government (see State-owned enterprises of New Zealand), usually in conjunction with the minister r ...

(BUMN) under the presidencies of

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, fr ...

and Megawati Sukarnoputri. Sukardi was born in Jakarta into a family of the ''menak'' or

Sundanese Sundanese may refer to: * Sundanese people * Sundanese language * Sundanese script Standard Sundanese script (''Aksara Sunda Baku'', ) is a writing system which is used by the Sundanese people. It is built based on Old Sundanese script (' ...

aristocracy. His father, Gandhi Sukardi (1929–2011), was a prominent journalist at the Antara state news agency. His grandfather, Raden Didi Sukardi (1898–1971), was also a journalist, plantation owner and government minister of the

federal state A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...

Pasundan The State of Pasundan ( Indonesian and su, Negara Pasundan) was a federal state ''(negara bagian)'' formed in the western part of the Indonesian island of Java by the Netherlands in 1948 following the Linggadjati Agreement. It was similar to th ...

. Laksamana Sukardi graduated as a civil engineer from the

Bandung Institute of Technology The Bandung Institute of Technology ( id, Institut Teknologi Bandung, abbreviated as ITB) is a national research university located in Bandung, Indonesia. Since its establishment in 1920, ITB has been consistently recognized as Indonesia's premi ...

(ITB) in 1979, but decided to pursue a career as an economist and banker. He eventually became part of the senior management of Bank Lippo, and was honoured as Banker of the Year from SWA Magazine in 1993. He also joined the reformist

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle ( id, Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan, PDI-P) is an Indonesian political party, and the party of the current President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. The PDI-P was founded and is currently led by Me ...

(PDI-P), and was an outspoken critic of the New Order regime of

Soeharto 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 l ...

. His political career began with his election as a legislator in 1992 to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). He served in the legislature until 1997, before being appointed in October 1999 to the reformist coalition government of President Abdurrahman Wahid as Minister of State Owned Enterprises in the

National Unity Cabinet The National Unity Cabinet ( id, Kabinet Persatuan Nasional) was the Indonesian Cabinet which served under President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri from 29 October 1999 until 23 July 2001. The Cabinet was formed aft ...

. Sukardi held this position until April 2000, but was reappointed by the next Indonesian President, Megawati Sukarnoputri, to his old post in August 2001 as part of her

Mutual Assistance Cabinet The Mutual Assistance Cabinet ( id, Kabinet Gotong Royong) was the Indonesian Cabinet which served under President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Vice President Hamzah Haz from 10 August 2001 until 20 October 2004. The Cabinet was formed after Megawa ...

(2001–2004). As Minister of State Owned Enterprises, Laksamana Sukardi presided over one of the most significant programmes of privatisation and or sale of state-owned assets since Independence in 1945. After leaving office in 2004, Sukardi, together with other leading party bureaucrats such as Arifin Panigoro, led a revolt within the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle against party chairman and former president Megawati Sukarnoputri. In 2005, they founded their own Democratic Renewal Party. He has been questioned by the Attorney-General of Indonesia in a number of high-profile corruption cases since leaving office in 2004.

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...

has also revealed the existence of a blanket gagging order applying to all citizens and media in Australia, issued by the Supreme Court of Victoria on 19 June 2014 for 'national security' reasons, which involves the names of several senior Asian politicians, including Sukardi.

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sukardi, Laksamana 1956 births Government ministers of Indonesia People from Jakarta Sundanese people Indonesian economists Indonesian Muslims Living people Members of the People's Representative Council, 1999