Oesman Sapta Odang (born 18 August 1950) is an Indonesian politician of the

People's Conscience Party The People's Conscience Party ( id, Partai Hati Nurani Rakyat), better known by its abbreviation, Hanura, is a political party in Indonesia. It was established following a meeting in Jakarta on 13–14 December 2006 and first headed by former Ind ...

(Hanura), who served as the speaker of the

Regional Representative Council The Regional Representative Council ( id, Dewan Perwakilan Daerah, DPD; alternatively translatable as the House of Regions or the House of Regional Representatives or the Senate of Indonesia), is one of two parliamentary chambers in Indonesia ...

and deputy speaker of the

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 ...

between 2014 and 2019. He had also served in the latter position between 2002 and 2004. Originating from the town of

Sukadana Sukadana () is a town and regency seat of North Kayong Regency (Kabupaten Kayong Utara), on the island of Borneo. North Kayong regency is one of the regencies of West Kalimantan province in Indonesia. The nearest airport is Rahadi Osman-Ketapang K ...

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 ...

, he built a career as a businessman before entering politics, founding the

Regional Unity Party The Regional Unity Party ( id, Partai Persatuan Daerah) was a political party in Indonesia. The party was founded as a result of the reforms to the People's Consultative Assembly, Indonesia's supreme law-making body which used to consist of the el ...

and later joining

Hanura The People's Conscience Party ( id, Partai Hati Nurani Rakyat), better known by its abbreviation, Hanura, is a political party in Indonesia. It was established following a meeting in Jakarta on 13–14 December 2006 and first headed by former Ind ...

, where he has served as chairman since December 2016.

Personal life

Oesman, often nicknamed Oso, was born in the town of

province on 18 August 1950 to parents from other parts of Indonesia. His father Odang originated from

Palopo Palopo or Kota Palopo is a city located in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the second-largest city in the province. Until it acquired its autonomy, Palopo was the capital of Luwu Regency. The area of the city is 247.52 km2, and it had a popu ...

while his mother Asnah Hamid was of Minang descent, originating from

Solok (BERAS)(Clean, Elegant, Neat, Safe and Prosperous) , image_shield = Logo Kota Solok.png , image_map = Lokasi Sumatra Barat Kota Solok.svg , map_caption = Location within West Sumatra , pushpin_map =Indon ...

. As a child, he worked on rubber plantations and as a cigarette vendor. He did not complete formal education, and only earned his high school degree through a special package ("Paket C") in 2006 at the age of 56. He obtained an

honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

degree from the now-defunct Rutherford University in 1999. He competed as a racing car driver in the 1980s, winning national and international level competitions.

Family

He is married to Serviaty Oesman and the couple has five children. In 2015, his eldest son Raja Septa Sermando died at the age of 41 due to a heart attack.

Career

He began his business career by trading agricultural commodities such as

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family ( Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the ...

and

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices ...

between

and

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 ...

. At the age of 22, he moved on to the construction industry. As his business grew, he expanded to other sectors, forming the Oso Group. In 2012, he resigned as CEO of the group. In 2002, he reported his wealth to the

Corruption Eradication Commission Corruption Eradication Commission ( id, Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi), abbreviated as KPK, is an Indonesian government agency established to prevent and fight corruption in the country. Firli Bahuri, an active police general, is the current cha ...

as Rp 54.6 billion (US$6 million). '' GlobeAsia'' placed him on its list of 150 richest Indonesians, placing him 103rd with estimated wealth of US$350 million. According to an official report to the Indonesian government, his wealth amounted to Rp 335.6 billion in April 2015.

Politics

He became a member of the

(MPR) for the 1999-2004 period, and was appointed deputy speaker of the body on 11 August 2002. He was part of the regional envoys' faction. Following this, he founded the

on 18 November 2002 and it participated in the 2004 elections, but only gathered 0.58 percent of votes and failed to secure seats in 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). The party achieved similar results in the 2009 elections, and merged with nine other minor political parties to form the National Unity Party. He attempted to run as governor of

in the 2007 gubernatorial elections, but placed last out of three candidates behind winner

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 ...

and incumbent Usman Ja'far. Following the 2014 election, he was elected into the

(DPD) as a senator from

, winning 188,528 votes. He was chosen as a deputy speaker for the MPR on 8 October 2014 for the 2014-2019 period. On 22 December 2016, he was elected chairman of

for 2016-2020, replacing

Wiranto Wiranto (born 4 April 1947) is an Indonesian politician and former army general, who is serving as the chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council, since December 2019. Previously, he was the Commander of the Indonesian Armed Forces from Febru ...

. He was elected DPD speaker in April 2017 following the expiry of

Bengkulu Bengkulu is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southwest coast of Sumatra. It was formed on 18 November 1968 by separating out the former Bencoolen Residency area from the province of South Sumatra under Law No. 9 of 1967 and was fi ...

senator

Mohammad Saleh Mohammad Saleh Bhutani was the second Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Indonesia The Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Indonesia ( id, Wakil Ketua Mahkamah Agung) refers to two separate positions on the Supreme Court of Indon ...

's appointment. His appointment received criticism, since Oesman then held two major parliamentary positions in addition to being chairman in

. According to speaker

Zulkifli Hasan Zulkifli Hasan (born 17 May 1962) is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is currently serving as Minister of Trade since 15 June 2022. Previously, he served as deputy speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) from 2019 until ...

, Oesman would resign from the deputy speaker position. It was not until February 2018 however that he submitted his resignation. His replacement was left for the

to decide. In January 2018,

Secretary General Sarifuddin Sudding ( id) gave him a

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

. Oesman fired him from the party in response. Deputy chairman of Hanura Wishnu Dewanto said Oesman had violated the party's internal procedures and caused Hanura's popularity to decline. Some others accused him of embezzling Rp 200 billion (US$15 million) of party funds. Following the split, multiple members holding positions in the

were replaced with Hanura legislators in Oesman's faction. The other faction moved to support candidates not initially endorsed by the party in the 2018 regional elections, such as in

East Java East Java ( id, Jawa Timur) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost hemisphere of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean bord ...

. Oesman has proposed

as incumbent 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 ...

's running mate in the upcoming 2019 elections. He was set to run for reelection, but the

General Elections Commission The General Elections Commission ( id, Komisi Pemilihan Umum, abbreviated as KPU) is the body that organises elections in Indonesia. Its responsibilities include deciding which parties can contest elections, organising the voting and announcing ...

removed his name from the ballot as he was still affiliated to political parties.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odang, Oesman Sapta 1950 births Living people People from West Kalimantan People's Conscience Party politicians Speakers of the Regional Representative Council