Rusdy Mastura (born 8 February 1950) is an Indonesian politician who is the governor of

Central Sulawesi Central Sulawesi (Indonesian: ''Sulawesi Tengah'') is a province of Indonesia located at the centre of the island of Sulawesi. The administrative capital and largest city is located in Palu. The 2010 census recorded a population of 2,635,009 for ...

and was the mayor of the province's capital, Palu, between 2005 and 2015.

Early life and education

Rusdy was born in Palu,

, on 8 February 1950, and he completed his elementary and middle school education in

Donggala Donggala Regency is a regency in the Central Sulawesi Province of Indonesia. It lies between 0° 30" north and 2°20" south latitude, and between 119° 45°" and 121° 45" east longitude, and covers a land area of 5,275.69 km2. It had a popula ...

, returning to Palu for high school.

Career

Before being elected into political office, Rusdy worked as a consultant. He was also chairman of the

Pancasila Youth The Pancasila Youth ( id, Pemuda Pancasila, ''PP'') is an Indonesian far-right paramilitary organization established in 1959. The organisation's name refers to ''Pancasila'', the official "five principles" of the Indonesian state. Pemuda Pancas ...

organization in Central Sulawesi.

Palu

In 1997, Rusdy was elected into the city council for Palu, and then between 1999 and 2004 he chaired the city council. He participated in Palu's 2005 mayoral elections, when he won in a landslide after securing 60.82% of votes in a three-candidate race. He was reelected following the 2010 election, winning 32 percent of votes in a six-candidate race. As Palu's mayor, Rusdy was the second Indonesian government official (after Abdurrahman Wahid during his presidency in 1999 to 2001) to publicly apologize for the mass killings in 1965–66. His initial apology stemmed from a human rights event in March 2012 where he stated that he was ordered to guard a house where

Indonesian Communist Party The Communist Party of Indonesia (Indonesian: ''Partai Komunis Indonesia'', PKI) was a communist party in Indonesia during the mid-20th century. It was the largest non-ruling communist party in the world before its violent disbandment in 1965. ...

members were detained, and then apologized to the victims. Rusdy's family was affiliated with Masyumi, which during 1965 was actively conducting violence against the communists. In October 2013, he issued a mayoral order which officially apologized to the victims and became a legal basis for the victims to reclaim their rights. Rusdy initiated a plan, in conjunction with the central government, to establish a special economic zone in Palu, which would include investments in port and road facilities. He also began a work program which employed some 5,000 poor residents of the city. He resigned as mayor in August 2015 to participate in the gubernatorial elections for the province. He was a member of

Golkar ) , foundation = , youth = AMPG (Golkar Party Young Force) , women = KPPG (Golkar Party Women's Corps) , newspaper = '' Suara Karya'' (1971–2016) , headquarters = Jakarta , ideology ...

until late 2017, when he moved to the

Nasdem Party ) , political_position = Centre to centre-left , national = Onward Indonesia Coalition , international = Progressive AllianceNetwork of Social Democracy in Asia (SOCDEM) , website www.nasdem.id, BallNo = 5 , ...

, citing political reasons. Rusdy was chairman of Golkar's

Donggala Regency Donggala Regency is a regency in the Central Sulawesi Province of Indonesia. It lies between 0° 30" north and 2°20" south latitude, and between 119° 45°" and 121° 45" east longitude, and covers a land area of 5,275.69 km2. It had a popula ...

branch in 2017 before his move.

As governor

Rusdy participated in the 2015 gubernatorial elections, but lost to

Longki Djanggola Longki Djanggola is an Indonesian politician and currently the governor of Central Sulawesi. He was responsible for launching the province's joint Chinese-Indonesian nickel smelter at Morowali Industrial Park in 2015. Djanggola was also the pres ...

and his lawsuit to the Constitutional Court was rejected. He ran again in 2020 and, this time, won the election after securing 891,334 votes (59.6%). He was sworn in on 16 June 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rusdy Mastura 1950 births Living people People from Palu Mayors and regents of places in Central Sulawesi Golkar politicians Nasdem Party politicians Members of Indonesian city councils Mayors of places in Indonesia Governors of Central Sulawesi