Early life and family

Yusril Ihza Mahendra was born in Manggar, Belitung, on 5 February 1956. His father was Idris Haji Zainal and his mother was Norsiha.^[1] His family traced its ancestry from Johor and West Sumatra. His paternal grandfather Haji Thaib from his father's side was a member of the Johore royalty, which likely settled in Belitung from Johor in the 19th century. While his mother was a third generation Minangkabau descendant in Belitung.

Education

Islamic organizations

Yusril also began to involve himself in organizational activities. From 1981 to 1982, he was Vice Chairman of the Indonesian Youth Mosque Communication Body. Yusril's Islamist views meant that his scope was not just limited to the academic world. In 1996, Yusril became a member of the Central Committee of the Indonesian Islamic Da'wah Council (DDII). At the same time, he became Chairman of the Legal Department of the Jakarta Branch of the Union of Indonesian Intellectual Muslims (ICMI) while serving as Vice Chairman of the ICMI Council of Experts.

Employment with Suharto

In 1996, Yusril was employed by President Suharto as a speechwriter. Yusril would go on to write 204 speeches for Suharto.^[3] When Suharto was re-elected to his final term as President in March 1998, he was appointed Aide to the Assistant of the State Secretary. From this position, he was closely involved in the final moments of Suharto's Presidency. When Suharto resigned, Yusril was involved in the drafting of the resignation speech, giving input so that the speech was legally accurate.^[4] During the crucial moments, Yusril managed to have a disagreement with Suharto over the speech. Suharto wanted to declare that the cabinet was now disbanded while Yusril argued that the Cabinet would not be disbanded because it will continue under the leadership of the next President.^[5] Suharto then personally made the necessary edits. When all was set, Yusril went to see Amien Rais to inform him that Suharto was resigning. The next morning on 21 May 1998, Suharto announced his resignation.^[6]

Crescent Star Party

With Suharto's fall from power, opportunity opened up for Yusril to get himself into politics and air his views. As a politician, Yusril was very much influenced by Natsir and called for the Jakarta Charter to be included in the Constitution. In the 1945 Constitution, Article 29 Section 1 originally read "The State is based on the belief in God with the obligation to obey Sharia law for its adherers".^[5] However, the Section was edited to "The State is based on the belief in God" ^[7] to make it sound more secular.

To achieve his political goal, Yusril formed the Crescent Star Party (PBB) on 17 July 1998 and was elected as its first Chairman. In June 1999, PBB participated in the 1999 Legislative Elections and came 6th with 2.84% of the votes.^[8] In the lead up to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) General Session, PBB joined forces with the other Muslim Parties to form the Central Axis. As the MPR assembled in 1999, the Central Axis had their support behind National Awakening Party's Abdurrahman Wahid with their opponents being Golkar's President Habibie and the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle's (PDI-P) Megawati Sukarnoputri. When Habibie's accountability speech was not accepted, he refused to run and the Presidential race came down to Wahid and Megawati. Yusril, perhaps worried that Wahid might also drop out of the race had himself nominated as a Presidential Candidate.^[9] However, Yusril would drop out of the race with little time to spare before the election process and Wahid would emerge as the President.

Presidency of Abdurrahman Wahid

When Wahid named his National Unity Cabinet, Yusril was appointed to the position of Minister of Laws and Legislations. During the Wahid Presidency, Yusril had a major policy difference when Wahid threw up the idea of lifting the ban on Marxism-Leninism. Yusril responded by threatening to resign from his position.^[10] A threat that was widely supported by PBB. Nevertheless, Wahid's idea never materialized and despite his differences, Yusril was retained as Minister. When political pressure began to put Wahid on the defensive in early 2001, Yusril suggested during a Cabinet Meeting that Wahid resign.^[5] Wahid's response was to remove Yusril from the Cabinet.

Presidency of Megawati

Now out of the Cabinet, Yusril and PBB threw their weight behind all the other political parties planning to impeach Wahid through a MPR Special Session. This was achieved in July 2001 when the MPR unanimously impeached Wahid and elected Megawati to the Presidency. In Megawati's Cabinet, Yusril was appointed to the position of Minister of Justice and Human Rights. As Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Yusril worked on the Anti-Terrorism Bill (Which would become the Anti-Terrorism Act) after the 2002 Bali bombings.^[11] Yusril also sought to improve the quality of Judges in Indonesia.^[12]

2004 Presidential elections

As 2004 approached, Yusril's name began to emerge as a Presidential Candidate. Yusril said that he was ready to run, provided that PBB finished in the Top 3 in the Legislative Elections.^[5] PBB failed to do this, gaining only 2% of the votes in the Legislative Elections.^[8] Yusril finally decided to support Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla in their bid for the Presidency and the Vice Presidency. For his support, Yusril was rewarded with the position of State Secretary.

Presidency of Yudhoyono

In 2005, Yusril was replaced as PBB Chairman by MS Kaban but became the Chairman of PBB's Advisory Council. He was later reelected into that position on 26 April 2015.^[13] On 7 May 2007, Yusril was replaced as State Secretary by Hatta Rajasa.

Citations