President dismisses Arcandra with honor

JAKARTA. After days of public controversy, State Secretary Pratikno announced on Monday evening at the presidential palace that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo dismissed Arcandra Tahar from his post as Energy and Mineral Resources Minister.

“Responding to the public statement regarding the citizenship status of Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar, and after collecting information from several sources, the President has decided to dismiss with honor Arcandra Tahar from his position as energy and mineral resources minister. (The President) appointed Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan as acting energy and mineral resources minister until a definitive minister is appointed,” Pratikno said.

Luhut is the Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister.

After the very brief statement, Pratikno said the decision was effective Tuesday morning because it was decided only tonight. Asked whether the decision was for political or legal reason, Pratikno said: The statement was clear enough, through considerations of many things, of various dimensions.

A rumor has circulated in the past week, saying Arcandra, who had lived in the US for 20 years, had two passports from the US and from Indonesia. Law on citizenship in 2006 stipulates an Indonesian automatically loses his Indonesian citizenship when he voluntarily accepted a foreign citizenship.

Previously, both Arcandra and Pratikno had been dodging the rumor by repeatedly saying Arcandra held an Indonesian passport, but not confirming whether he indeed had a US passport. (Ayomi Amindoni)