Agung Laksono

Agung Laksono was born in Semarang on 23 March 1949. He completed his primary and secondary education at SMA Negeri 4 Medan. He continued his studies at the Indonesian Christian University at the Faculty of Medicine and graduated in 1972.

Early career

He started his political career in the Golkar Party by serving as Chairman of the Youth Forces of the Golkar Party from 1984 until 1989.

Adam Air

He was a co-founder of Adam Air, a now defunct commercial airline, which was heavily embroiled in corruption as well as various safety violations. Adam Air was closed down after a series of accidents.

Political career

Laksono would go on to serve as Minister of Youth and Sports in the Development Cabinet VII in the government of President Suharto. In 1999, he entered the People's Representative Council. In 2004, he replaced Akbar Tandjung as Speaker of the People's Representative Council, going to serve from 2004 until 2009.

He was appointed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare from 2009 until 2014. On 7 December 2012, he was appointed to serve as Acting Minister of Youth and Sports replacing Andi Mallarangeng, following Andi's resignation over alleged corruption case of the Hambalang sports facility construction project in Bogor, West Java, being succeeded by Roy Suryo. On 28 May 2014, he was also appointed Acting Minister of Religious Affairs replacing Suryadharma Ali who officially resigned after alleged corruption. He was soon replaced by Lukman Hakim Saifuddin who was officially inaugurated by the President on 9 June 2014.

On December 13, 2019, President Joko Widodo appointed Laksono and 8 others to become members of the Presidential Advisory Council with Wiranto as chairman.

Laksono is known for critical remarks toward Singapore in response to the island republic's diplomatic calls to the Indonesian government to curb acrid trans-boundary haze that shroud large areas of Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore annually as a result of extensive "slash and burn" cultivation in Sumatra, Kalimantan and other Indonesian territories. His remarks were viewed as without sound justification, aimed at rousing nationalistic sentiments without constructively resolving the issue at hand.

In the 2013 Southeast Asian haze, PSI levels across many parts of Johor, Malacca, Selangor and Singapore reached hazardous levels as the number of hotspots in neighbouring Riau province, Sumatra, climbed to 148. Laksono lambasted Singaporeans for "behaving like a child" when the city-state stepped up pressure on the Indonesian government to take definitive action to extinguish the Sumatran forest fires and bring those responsible to justice through stricter enforcement of laws against indiscriminate burning. When a Singaporean official offered assistance to tackle the recurrent haze problem at an emergency meeting held in Jakarta, Laksono responded, "If it is only half a million, or one million dollars, we don't need that. We would rather use our own national budget."

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong mentioned in a press conference that "It’s not fruitful to respond to such comments. It would be in the best interests of both countries to work on the problem together rather than exchanging harsh words." Lee also repeated an offer to help Indonesia.

Laksono also told reporters that "Indonesian citizens also need to be looked after" before tending to other countries' interests, even though the world's largest archipelago is observed to be the primary source of the annual regional smog. While playing the victim card, he squarely fended off the blame to foreign-owned companies and elements beyond his nation's control. He argued that it was "not what Indonesians want, it's nature", despite the fact that it was clear even in the haze that were razing large areas of forested land for commercial plantations were certainly man-made events.

Laksono also reportedly remarked on more than one occasion that Indonesia's neighbours do not appreciate the fresh air that Indonesian forests bring to them, but complained about the haze when it only happens occasionally.