Usman Jafar (10 September 1951 – 15 May 2015) was an Indonesian politician and businessman who served as the

Governor of West Kalimantan This is the list of the governors of West Kalimantan, a province in Indonesia. References

{{reflist West Kalimantan Governors of West Kalimantan, * Lists of Governors of Indonesian provinces, West Kalimantan ...

between 2003 and 2008, and as 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), ...

from 2009 until his death in 2015.

Early life and education

Usman Ja'far was born in Sekadau, today part of West Kalimantan, on 10 September 1951. His father died when he was five, and he completed elementary and middle school in Sekadau. When he enrolled at high school in Pontianak, he lived with his uncle Abdussjukur, an Indonesian National Party politician who at that time served as speaker of the provincial legislature. His uncle was relocated 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 ...

after six months when he was elected to the

(DPR), the lower house of Indonesia's parliament, and Usman Ja'far followed him and continued his education there. He then enrolled at a management academy, graduating in 1974.

Retail career

By 1974, he was working as an accounting staff in

, being promoted to his company's accounting and purchasing department by 1977. He was then hired as general manager of PT Pasaraya Tosersajaya, a department store company, where he worked from 1981 to 1991. In 1992, he was appointed as a director of the company. It was one of the largest retail chains in Indonesia at the time. He was eventually appointed to lead a number of companies owned by businessman

Abdul Latief Abdul Latif ( ar, عبد اللطيف, translit=ʻAbd al-Laṭīf) is a Muslim male given name and, in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words ''Abd (Arabic), ʻabd'' and ''al-Laṭīf'', one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which ...

, and also as the president director of

Lativi tvOne (Formerly known as Lativi) is an Indonesian free-to-air television network based in East Jakarta. tvOne is owned by Visi Media Asia, a unit of Bakrie Group. As Lativi, The channel was launched as a test broadcast on 17 January 2002 at 4:0 ...

. He was particularly well-known in the retail industry, and was considered a pioneer in the market.

Political career

Governor of West Kalimantan

He entered politics and ran for governor of West Kalimantan in 2002, with the endorsement of the United Development Party. In the voting by the West Kalimantan Regional People's Representative Council, Usman Ja'far and his running mate managed to secure 32 of 54 votes to win the election. He was the first locally born governor to be elected in West Kalimantan in nearly forty years. They were sworn in on 13 January 2003. The pair represented the ethnic composition of the province: Usman Ja'far was an ethnically

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

Muslim, while Kadir was a Dayak Christian. In his reelection bid, however, he lost to

Cornelis Cornelis is a Dutch language, Dutch form of the male given name Cornelius (name), Cornelius. Some common shortened versions of Cornelis in Dutch are Cees, Cor, Corné, Corneel, Crelis, Kees (given name), Kees, Neel and Nelis. Cornelis (Kees) an ...

in the 2007 direct election, winning 659,279 votes to Cornelis' 930,679.

People's Representative Council

After the end of his tenure as governor, Usman Ja'far successfully ran for election to the DPR in the 2009 election, being elected as a representative of West Kalimantan with 81,963 votes. He was elected for his second term in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. During his tenure in DPR, he had served as a member of the council's honour board.

Death

Usman Ja'far died on 15 May 2015 at Jakarta's Medistra Hospital from heart disease after several days of treatment. He was buried the same day at

San Diego Hills San Diego Hills is a privately owned cemetery in Indonesia owned by Lippo Land Club. Established in January 2007, San Diego Hills is the first cemetery in Indonesia that combines the elegant cemetery concept of Forest Lawn with Indonesian cu ...

cemetery. Shortly prior to his death, Usman Ja'far had been investigated as a suspect for graft. Under suspicion of misusing Rp 22 billion in social aid funds, Usman Ja'far was questioned for 12 hours by police, before falling comatose after a bypass surgery several days after in March 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Usman Ja'far 1951 births 2015 deaths Members of the House of Representatives (Indonesia), 2009 Members of the House of Representatives (Indonesia), 2014 Governors of West Kalimantan United Development Party politicians People from West Kalimantan Indonesian Muslims Indonesian people of Malay descent Indonesian businesspeople