Agung Laksono replaces Suryadharma

JAKARTA. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has assigned Coordinating People’s Welfare Minister Agung Laksono to the role of acting religious affairs minister to replace Suryadharma Ali, who resigned from his position on Monday after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named him a suspect in a graft case.

“Coordinating People’s Welfare Minister Agung Laksono will be the interim religious affairs minister,” Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said on Wednesday. Julian said Agung would serve as interim minister until Yudhoyono decided on a permanent replacement for Suryadharma.

Agung briefly served as acting health minister following the death of Endang Rahayu Sedianingsih in 2012. He also took the place of Andi Mallarangeng when he resigned from his position as youth and sports minister, following the KPK’s decision to name Andi a suspect in the Hambalang graft case in 2013.