Hamzah Haz

Infobox Vice President | name = Hamzah Haz
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caption =
order =9th Vice President of Indonesia
term_start =July 23 2001
term_end =October 20 2004
president =Megawati Sukarnoputri
predecessor =Megawati Sukarnoputri
successor =Jusuf Kalla
birth_date =Birth date and age|1940|2|15|mf=y
birth_place =Ketapang, West Kalimantan
death_date =
death_place =
party =United Development Party
spouse =
profession =
religion =Islam


footnotes =|

Hamzah Haz is an Indonesian politician born in Ketapang, West Kalimantan on 15 February 1940. He is the head of the United Development Party (PPP) and served as the ninth Vice-President from 2001 until 2004. He is sometimes known as Dr. Hamzah based on having obtained a Ph.D. from American World University, an internet diploma mill, for $2,500.

Hamzah was a newspaper journalist in his home town of Pontianak, on the island of Borneo, and later taught economics at Tanjungpura University. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1457865.stm] Article titled "Profile: Hamzah Haz" at the "BBC News" Web site, July 26, 2001, accessed April 6, 2007]

His political career began in 1968 as a member of the in West Kalimantan provincial parliament. He later moved to Jakarta, became a member of parliament in 1971, first as a member of the Muslim Nahdlatul Ulama group. In 1973 he became a member of the PPP.

Hamzah served as minister for investment under President B. J. Habibie, who replaced Suharto, then resigned that post to lead the PPP in the 1999 elections. Hamzah joined the cabinet of President Abdurrahman Wahid, then became the first minister to quit Wahid's first cabinet, resigning as minister for people's welfare after just two months.

He became a vocal critic of Mr Wahid, but he is also known for his ability to compromise. By the time of Wahid's impeachment in the summer of 2001, Hamzah was leader of the PPP, then the third-largest party in the Indonesian Parliament.

In the 2004 Indonesian Presidential Election, Hamzah Haz was one of the presidential candidates, running with team-mate Agum Gumelar. The pair finished last among the five candidates, garnering only 3 percent of the total vote.

Reputation for irresponsibility

A number of journalists and commentators have written that Haz is seen by many as willing to offer support for militant Muslim groups as a way of gaining political support from them. In 2002, Bill Guerin, in an opinion piece in the "Asian Times" wrote, "Haz, [...] is widely seen as blatantly vying for support from among Indonesian Muslims, including the militant groups, to strengthen his run for the presidency in the country's next general elections in 2004." [ [http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/DJ15Ae02.html] Guerin, Bill, "Indonesia: The enemy within", October 15, 2007.]

Hamzah is also known as an apologist for and friend of Abu Bakar Bashir, who is the spiritual leader for the terrorist organization Jemaah Islamiyah. Hamzah made a public show of inviting Ba'asyir to dinner while Hamzah was Vice President, and visited Ba'asyir's jihadist pesantren (religious school) in Pondok Ngruki. Haz denied that Ba'asyir was connected to terrorism up until Ba'asyir's arrest in October 2002. "If you want to arrest Abu Bakar Bashir," he was quoted as saying before Ba'asyir's arrest, "you will have to deal with me first." [ [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/10/13/1034222681344.html] Parkinson, Tony, "Jakarta's Day of Reckoning" opinion article in "The Age", October 14, 2002, accessed April 6, 2007]

According to an October 2002 article in TIME magazine, "That clerics like Abubakar [ Bashir ] have powerful military and political allies is no secret: the nation's Vice-President Hamzah Haz is one of them." TIME reported that Hamzah described his relationship with Bashir and Laskar Jihad leader Jafar Umar Thalib as "very close", but TIME added, "many see this relationship as a purely political ploy to woo Muslim voters ahead of the 2004 election." Hamzah, although he "has a reputation as a wily politician" nevertheless "will be remembered for a particularly ill-judged speech before Muslim clerics at Abubakar's Solo boarding school in May [2002] ", the newsmagazine reported. During that visit Hamzah was also reported to have said, "If they can prove there are terrorists here I'll be the first to order an arrest," and then stepped down from the podium and kissed Abubakar on both cheeks. [ [http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:SM6oJf1ddtQJ:www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,366384,00.html+%22Hamzah+Haz%22+terrorism&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=65&gl=us&ie=UTF-8] Solo, Andrew Marshall, "The Rage Culture", TIME magazine, October 21, 2002]

In 2002, an Australian academic cited Hamzah as the "best example" of Islamic politicians in Indonesia "prepared to play the extremist card to attract extra votes". Hamzah "has supported Jemaah Islamiyah and has even been instrumental in having its members released from detention in the past, according to Tim Lindsey, director of the Asian Law Centre at the University of Melbourne. "He has also openly accused the CIA and the United States of carrying out the Bali bombing." [ [http://www.law.unimelb.edu.au/alc/wip/anti-terrorism.html] Lindsey, Tim, "Indonesia's New Anti-terrorism Law: Damned if you Do, Damned if you Don't", article at Web site of the University of Melbourne Asian Law Centre, there is no date on the article, but it mentions upcoming 2004 elections and the October 2002 Bali terrorist attack; accessed April 6, 2007]

Denial of terrorists in the country

In 2002 Hamzah gave an interview to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), which broadcast it on October 23. In a voiceover played during the television interview, an ABC journalist said, "Before the Bali bombing, Vice President Hamzah Haz insisted there were no terrorists in Indonesia. After the bombing, he gave this extraordinary justification for that position: [ [http://abc.net.au/foreign/stories/s710402.htm] Web page titled "Foreign Correspondent / Hamzah Haz Interview Transcript / Broadcast: 23/10/2002 / Reporter: Evan Williams", Australian Broadcasting Corporation Web site, accessed April 6, 2007]

:Hamzah Haz press statement: "If I as vice president said that Indonesia has terrorists, no one would come to Indonesia, no investors would come."

The ABC interviewer then told Hamzah: "In light of Bali, that would seem a reprehensible comment, if you knew that people were here.

Hamzah responded: "It’s not true that I protect them and I don’t regret what I said, but I said it in the past — it relates to the past. But now if there is a connection we want to know whether it is true that Indonesia has a terrorist network."

Accusation of United States terrorism

On September 3, 2003 Haz stated, "Actually, who is the terrorist, who is against human rights? The answer is the United States because they attacked Iraq. Moreover, it is the terrorist king, waging war." cite journal
first =
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year =2003
month =September 3
title = Indonesian VP: United States Is 'Terrorist King'
journal = Reuters
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pages =
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url = http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0903-01.htm ]

According to the "Sydney Morning Herald", Hamzah's statement was "a scathing attack that echoed the language of many of the Bali bombers." Hamzah had also been criticised for publicly associating with several of Indonesia's more hardline Islamic leaders, including Bashir, although after the Bali terrorist attack Hamzah severed those ties. Soon after Hamzah's remarks, Riza Sihbudi, a political analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, told the Detik news service that Hamzah seemed to be chasing votes. "He should not have spoken like that as he is the Vice-President," Sihbudi said. [ [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/04/1062548965995.html?from=storyrhs] Moore, Matthew, Herald Correspondent in Jakarta, "Indonesian deputy's attack on US raises fears of split", quote from lead paragraph of news article in "The Sidney Morning Herald", September 5, 2003, accessed April 6, 2007]

Al Jazeera reported the day after Hamzah's statement that "There has yet to be a US reaction to the well-known firebrand's comments." [ [http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:5G4eAw1X6ZEJ:english.aljazeera.net/News/archive/archive%3FArchiveId%3D39674+%22Hamzah+Haz%22+%22terrorist+king%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=31&gl=us] Google cached version of Web page titled "News Archive / Indonesia may prolong Aceh operation" at "Al Jazeera" Web site, accessed April 6, 2007]

Personal life

Officially, according to the Office of Vice President [ [http://www.setwapres.go.id/profil-hamzah.htm Office of Vice President] ] , Hamzah married to two wives: Asmaniah (b. 27 July 1942) and Titin Kartini (b. 4 May 1946). He has a total of 12 children from the official wives. However, other source [ [http://www.detiknews.com/index.php/detik.read/tahun/2004/bulan/05/tgl/21/time/123136/idnews/157972/idkanal/10 Detiknews] ] indicated that he has in fact three wives. His third wife is Soraya, and she bore three children from Hamzah. However, Hamzah does not officially admit to having a third wife.

His son, Nur Agus Haz, is a member of parliament for the United Development Party [ [http://www.suaramerdeka.com/harian/0401/04/nas6.htm Anak dan Menantu Haz Caleg Jadi] ]

References

Barton, Greg. Jemaah Islamiyah: Radical Islam in Indonesia (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2005).