Tjahjo Kumolo (1 December 1957 – 1 July 2022) was an Indonesian politician. He served as

Minister of Home Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

in the

Working Cabinet (2014–2019) The Working Cabinet ( id, Kabinet Kerja) was sworn in on 27 October 2014, by President of Indonesia Joko Widodo. History Background On 15 September, president-elect Joko Widodo stated that his cabinet would have 34 members, with 18 coming fro ...

, and Minister of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform in the Onward Indonesia Cabinet from 2019 until his death, both under President

Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), popularly known as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the 7th and current president of Indonesia. Elected in July 2014, he was the first Indonesian president not to come from an elite ...

. He was a longtime loyalist of former 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 ...

and a senior member of her

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). Tjahjo Kumolo was Secretary General of PDI-P between 2010 and 2015, and was a member of the

People's Representative Council The People's Representative Council of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, DPR-RI), also known as the House of Representatives, is one of two elected chambers of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), ...

(DPR) between 1999 and 2014 during which time he was the speaker of his party's faction until his replacement by later fellow minister

Puan Maharani Puan Maharani Nakshatra Kusyala Devi (born 6 September 1973) is an Indonesian politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), who is serving as the current speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR), Indonesia's lower hou ...

. During the New Order regime of President

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 ...

, he served two terms in the DPR between 1987 and 1997.

Early life and education

Early life

Tjahjo Kumolo ( EYD: Cahyo Kumolo) was born in

Surakarta Surakarta ( jv, ꦯꦸꦫꦏꦂꦠ), known colloquially as Solo ( jv, ꦱꦭ; ), is a city in Central Java, Indonesia. The 44 km2 (16.2 sq mi) city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and Sukoh ...

(often referred to as Solo) on 1 December 1957. He attended school for 12 years in the larger city of Semarang and lived in the Mlatiharjo administrative village (''kelurahan'') on the eastern side of the city. His father, Bambang Soebandiono, was a lieutenant in the

Indonesian Army The Indonesian Army ( id, Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Darat (TNI-AD), ) is the land branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It has an estimated strength of 300,000 active personnel. The history of the Indonesian Army has its ...

. Both his father and his mother Toeti Slemoon had at some point sat in the

, the former having served five terms.

Education

After graduating from high school, Tjahjo Kumolo studied law at

Diponegoro University Diponegoro University ( jv, ꦈꦤꦶꦥ꦳ꦼꦂꦱꦶꦠꦱ꧀ꦢꦶꦥꦤꦼꦒꦫ; id, Universitas Diponegoro, abbreviated as Undip) is a public university in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia. Founded in 1957 as a private university by th ...

, graduating in 1985. During this period, he was elected leader of KNPI's (National Committee of Indonesian Youth)

Central Java Central Java ( id, Jawa Tengah) is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in t ...

chapter. He also studied at the

National Resilience Institute National Resilience Institute ( id, Lembaga Ketahanan Nasional, abbreviated as Lemhannas) is an Indonesian Non-Ministerial Government Agency tasked with carrying out government duties in the field of education for national leaders, strategic ass ...

until 1994.

Political career

People's Representative Council

Prior to his tenure for the KNPI, Tjahjo Kumolo worked as a reporter for a daily paper in

. He first became a member of the

in 1985, which necessitated his move 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 ...

. Initially 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 ...

, being elected to the parliament in 1987 and 1992. He had worked in the second and third commissions of the parliament in addition to the interparliamentary partnership body (BKSAP). Following the

fall of Suharto Suharto resigned as President of Indonesia on 21 May 1998 following the collapse of support for his 32-year long presidency. Vice President B. J. Habibie took over the presidency. Suharto's grip on power weakened following severe economic and ...

, he moved to PDI-P and was elected back into the parliament in 1999. In this term, he acted as deputy speaker of the faction until 2002, followed by being a faction secretary until 2003. He ran once more in the 2004 elections and remained in the parliament, this time as the speaker of the PDI-P faction until another election in 2009, when he once more secured his seat. He was also chosen as the Secretary General of PDI-P in 2010 by party leader

Megawati Soekarnoputri 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 from 1999 to 2001. Megawati i ...

. Later, his faction speaker position would be taken in 2012 by

and his secretary general position in 2015 by Hasto Kristiyanto.

Minister of Home Affairs

Following

's election victory over

Prabowo Subianto Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo (born 17 October 1951) is an Indonesian politician, businessman and former army lieutenant general who is the currently-appointed Minister of Defense of the Republic of Indonesia. He is the son of Sumitro Djojoh ...

in 2014, Tjahjo Kumolo was selected as

in the Working Cabinet and was officially sworn in on 27 October 2014. During the blasphemy accusations against

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (, Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ''Chûng Van-ho̍k''; born 29 June 1966) is an Indonesian businessman, politician, and former governor of Jakarta. He is also known by his Hakka Chinese nickname Ahok (). He was the second minority gover ...

in 2017, he refused to suspend the Chinese Indonesian governor of Jakarta. Later in the same year, he disbanded the Indonesian branch of

Hizbut Tahrir Hizb ut-Tahrir (Arabicحزب التحرير (Translation: Party of Liberation) is an international, political organization which describes its ideology as Islam, and its aim the re-establishment of the Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) to resume Isl ...

Bureaucratic Reform Minister

In Widodo's second term, Tjahjo Kumolo was appointed Minister of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform. During his tenure, the ministry began evaluations on a variety of government bodies, assessing potential dissolutions or mergers to save costs and simplify bureaucracy. Starting in 2022, he established a program for new civil servants to participate in military reserve training, though he later clarified that the program was not mandatory.

Personal life

Tjahjo Kumolo married Erni Guntarti and the couple has three children. His wife is a doctor and first child is a dentist, with his second child is graduated from law school and the third as a flight attendant. He was a practicing

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 ...

, hailed from a religious diverse family background. While his father was a

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 ...

official in later life and his mother was a Muhammadiyah activist from

Solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...

and so himself, his extended family from both sides belonged to

Gereja Kristen Jawi Wetan The East Java Christian Church (''Greja Kristen Jawi Wetan'' (GKJW) in the Javanese language, Javanese language) is a congregation of Christianity, Christian and Reformed church, Reformed Church body, churches based on Ethnic groups in Indonesia, ...

, a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

church. He claimed that his experience in such a family formed him to be a religious moderate. Tjahjo Kumolo died after being hospitalized for two weeks at the Abdi Waluyo Hospital in Jakarta on 1 July 2022. The cause of his death was

multiple organ failure Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) is altered organ function in an acutely ill patient requiring medical intervention to achieve homeostasis. Although Irwin and Rippe cautioned in 2005 that the use of "multiple organ failure" or "multisy ...

due to

asthenia Weakness is a symptom of a number of different conditions. The causes are many and can be divided into conditions that have true or perceived muscle weakness. True muscle weakness is a primary symptom of a variety of skeletal muscle diseases, i ...

lung infection Lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) is a term often used as a synonym for pneumonia but can also be applied to other types of infection including lung abscess and acute bronchitis. Symptoms include shortness of breath, weakness, fever, co ...

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

, and

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intensit ...

. His four diseases were unknown to the public prior to his death. He was buried in a military funeral at Kalibata Heroes' Cemetery on the same day. He was 64, leaving 3 sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumolo, Tjahjo 1957 births 2022 deaths Deaths from multiple organ failure Diponegoro University alumni Interior ministers of Indonesia Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle politicians People from Surakarta Indonesian Muslims Working Cabinet (Joko Widodo) Members of the People's Representative Council, 1987 Members of the People's Representative Council, 1992 Members of the People's Representative Council, 1999 Members of the People's Representative Council, 2004 Members of the People's Representative Council, 2009 Onward Indonesia Cabinet