Fernando Hanjam is an

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

ese politician and academic. In 2020, he served briefly as the

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

under the

VIII Constitutional Government of East Timor The VIII Constitutional Government (, ) was the eighth Constitutional Government of Timor-Leste, Constitutional Government (Administration (government), administration or Cabinet (government), cabinet) under the Constitution of Timor-Leste. Fo ...

led by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Taur Matan Ruak José Maria de Vasconcelos (born 10 October 1956), popularly known as Taur Matan Ruak (Tetum for "Two Sharp Eyes"), is an East Timorese politician who served as 9th prime minister of East Timor from 2018 to 2023. He also served as 5th presi ...

. Previously, in 2017–18, he was Minister of Education and Culture in the earlier VII Constitutional Government, led by

Mari Alkatiri Mari bin Amude Alkatiri ( '; born 26 November 1949) is a Timorese politician. He was Prime Minister of East Timor from May 2002 until his resignation on 26 June 2006 following weeks of political unrest in the country, and again from September ...

Early life and career

Hanjam hails from the Oecusse-Ambeno exclave in the west of East Timor. He attended SMA Seminari Lalian Atambua, in

Belu Regency Belu Regency is a regency in East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia. Situated on the north side of Timor island, it originally stretched to the south coast, but in December 2012 its southern half was detached to form the new Malaka Regency. It ...

, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. He then studied management at

Sanata Dharma University Sanata Dharma University () abbreviated as USD or Sandhar, is a private, Catholic, research, coeducational higher education institution run by the Indonesian Province of the Society of Jesus in Yogyakarta (city), Yogyakarta Indonesia. The two w ...

Yogyakarta Yogyakarta is the capital city of the Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by Hamengkubuwono, a monarchy, Yogyakarta is regarded as an importan ...

, Indonesia, and at

Satya Wacana Christian University Satya Wacana Christian University (), abbreviated as UKSW, is a private university located in Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. The name itself is derived from Sanskrit, meaning "Faithful to the Word / Word of God". UKSW's campuses are spread a ...

Salatiga Salatiga () is a Cities of Indonesia, city in Central Java province, Indonesia. It covers an area of and had a population of 192,322 at the 2020 Indonesian census, 2020 Census;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as at m ...

, Central Java, Indonesia, and also obtained a PhD in Accounting and Finance at the

University of Aveiro The University of Aveiro () is a public university, in addition to providing polytechnic (Portugal), polytechnic education, located in the Portuguese city of Aveiro, Portugal, Aveiro. Founded in 1973, it has a student population of approximately ...

, Portugal. All of these studies were supported by the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

, to which Hanjam has publicly expressed gratitude. From 2000, Hanjam was a Professor, and later Vice Rector, at the

National University of East Timor The National University of East Timor (UNTL; ; Tetum language, Tetum: ''Universidade Nasionál Timór Lorosa'e''), is a public university in East Timor, the only one of its kind in the country. Founded in 2000, as a result of the nation's indepen ...

(''Universidade Nasionál Timór Lorosa'e'' (UNTL)).

Political career

In 2012, Hanjam was under discussion for possible appointment as Secretary of State for Oecusse-Ambeno in the V Constitutional Government under

Xanana Gusmão José Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmão (; born 20 June 1946) is an East Timorese politician. He has served as the 6th prime minister of East Timor since 2023, previously serving in that position from 2007 to 2015. A former rebel, he also served as E ...

. However, no such appointment was made. On 3 October 2017, Hanjam was sworn in as Minister of Education and Culture in the VII Constitutional Government. At that time, he was a member of the

People's Liberation Party People's Liberation Party may refer to: * People's Liberation Party (Turkey), a Marxist–Leninist communist party in Turkey * People's Liberation Party (Timor-Leste), a political party in Timor-Leste (former East Timor) * People's Liberation Par ...

( (PLP)), which was not officially involved in that government; he later switched to

Fretilin The Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (, abbreviated as Fretilin) is a separatist organization turned centre-left political party in Timor-Leste. It presently holds 19 of 65 seats in the National Parliament. Fretilin formed the ...

. His term of office in that Ministry ended on 22 June 2018, when the VIII Constitutional Government was formed. On 29 May 2020, following a change in the governing coalition, and the admission of Fretilin to the VIII Constitutional Government, Hanjam was sworn in as Minister of Finance. In early October 2020, however, he had to take leave, and on 5 November 2020 he was forced to resign, due to ill health. On 23 November 2020, his immediate predecessor, Rui Gomes, was re-appointed to succeed him.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanjam, Fernando Ministers of finance of Timor-Leste Education and culture ministers of Timor-Leste Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century East Timorese politicians Satya Wacana Christian University alumni People from Oecusse Municipality