JAKARTA, April 27 – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has appointed a labour union chief as the country’s new environment minister, the palace said on Monday, replacing Hanif Faisol Nurofiq, who oversaw several high profile environment-related probes since taking office in late 2024.
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- New Environment Minister Mohammad Jumhur Hidayat, chief of All-Indonesia Workers’ Union Confederation, is best known for having led protests against former President Suharto in the 1990s.
- In 2021, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison for attempting to stir unrest, and he backed Prabowo’s opponent in the 2024 presidential election.
- Jumhur’s predecessor Hanif has been moved to the post of deputy minister at the coordinating ministry for food affairs, the palace said.
- During his eighteen-month stint as minister, Hanif, a former bureaucrat, oversaw civil lawsuits against companies accused of massive environmental damage that worsened floods in northern Sumatra late last year, as well as the handling of radioactive contamination at a sprawling industrial zone near Jakarta, which ultimately affected exports to the United States.
- The government eventually revoked the permits of 28 firms after they were found responsible for environmental damage that worsened the Sumatran floods, which killed at least 1,200 people.
- The environment ministry under Hanif also launched an investigation into alleged mismanagement of rainwater at a West Java integrated resort that is home to a Trump Organization golf course.
- In the reshuffle, Prabowo also swore in Muhammad Qodari as the new chief of the government’s communications office and former army chief Dudung Abdurachman as the new presidential chief of staff.
