Siswono Yudo Husodo (born 4 July 1943) is an Indonesian politician and businessman who was the Minister of Transmigration and Minister of Public Housing during the New Order era. He was a vice presidential candidate in the 1999 presidential vote and the 2004 presidential election.

Early life

Siswono was born in Long Iram in

West Kutai Regency West Kutai Regency ( id, Kabupaten Kutai Barat) is a regency (''kabupaten'') in the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan. It previously covered a much greater area, with a population of 165,091 at the 2010 Census, but in December 2012 the five no ...

on 4 July 1943, during the

Japanese occupation of Indonesia The Empire of Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) during World War II from March 1942 until after the end of the war in September 1945. It was one of the most crucial and important periods in modern Indonesian history. In Ma ...

. He was of Javanese ancestry. The third child of ten, his father was a doctor who was assigned in Kalimantan. As a child, he followed his father's change of assignment, moving to

Tenggarong Tenggarong is a town in and the capital of Kutai Kartanegara Regency of East Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. The former Kutai Kartanegara Sultanate's capital was likewise located in Tenggarong. Historically, the then capital was called ''Tepian ...

and later

Palu Palu, which is officially known as the City of Palu (Indonesian: ''Kota Palu''), is the capital and largest city of Central Sulawesi. Palu is located on the northwestern coast of Sulawesi and borders Donggala Regency to the north and west, P ...

, where he attended kindergarten. By 1949, his family moved to Kendal where he attended elementary school. On 1958, he moved to Jakarta to attend high school, and by 1961 he enrolled at the

Bandung Institute of Technology The Bandung Institute of Technology ( id, Institut Teknologi Bandung, abbreviated as ITB) is a national research university located in Bandung, Indonesia. Since its establishment in 1920, ITB has been consistently recognized as Indonesia's premi ...

(ITB). During his time studying at ITB, Siswono was part of GMNI (''Gerakan Mahasiswa Nasional Indonesia'', Indonesian National Students' Movement) and Barisan Soekarno - an organization that supported

Sukarno Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader ...

, which was censured when

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 le ...

took power. As a result, he was suspended from his studies for four years. During this time, he engaged in trading produce, namely selling garlic from East Java to Jakarta and

Palembang Palembang () is the capital city of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra. The city proper covers on both banks of the Musi River on the eastern lowland of southern Sumatra. It had a population of 1,668,848 at the 2020 Census. Palemban ...

. He was allowed to return to his studies in 1968.

Career

After graduating, Siswono started a construction firm PT Bangun Cipta Sarana along with his friends from ITB in 1969. The firm benefited from a construction boom during the Suharto period, and was given the contracts to build the graves of

and Hatta. Siswono eventually accepted an offer to become the Minister of Public Housing under Suharto's cabinet in 1988, and was reappointed as the Minister of Transmigration and Manpower in 1993. 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 ...

, Siswono was the Chairman of the Indonesian Farmers Association, and he represented the "Business Group" in 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 Indonesia's political system. It is composed of the members of the People's Re ...

between 1999 and 2004. He was considered as a likely vice presidential candidate in the 1999 vote, but won the fewest votes out of the five candidates (31 out of 613) and was dropped in the first round of voting. During this time, 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 ...

. For the 2004 presidential election, Siswono became the running mate to

Amien Rais Muhammad Amien Rais (born 26 April 1944) is an Indonesian politician. He was one of the leaders of the reform movement that forced the resignation of President Suharto in 1998. Amien Rais was the leader of Muhammadiyah, one of the two biggest Mus ...

. Six political parties supported them, but the pair was eliminated in the first round of voting after only winning 14.66 percent of votes, placing them fourth. Later in the 2009 legislative election, Siswono was elected to 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), ...

representing Central Java's 1st electoral district still as a

Golkar ) , foundation = , youth = AMPG (Golkar Party Young Force) , women = KPPG (Golkar Party Women's Corps) , newspaper = '' Suara Karya'' (1971–2016) , headquarters = Jakarta , ideology ...

candidate. He was part of the body's fourth commission and was deputy chairman of its honor council. He did not run for reelection in 2014, citing his age. By 2017, he had joined the

Nasdem Party The Nasdem Party ( id, Partai NasDem) is a political party in Indonesia. It is partly funded by media baron Surya Paloh who founded the similarly named organization, National Democrats ( id, Nasional Demokrat). Despite this, and logo similarity, Na ...

and became the chairman of its advisory council. He had also been the chairman of Pancasila University's foundation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yudo Husodo, Siswono 1943 births Living people Javanese people People from East Kalimantan Nasdem Party politicians Members of the People's Representative Council, 2009 Government ministers of Indonesia Bandung Institute of Technology alumni