Hamzah Haz

Hamzah Haz حمزه هز
9th Vice President of Indonesia
In office 23 July 2001 – 20 October 2004
President	Megawati Sukarnoputri
Preceded by	Megawati Sukarnoputri
Succeeded by	Jusuf Kalla
Personal details
Born	(1940-02-15) 15 February 1940 (age 76) Ketapang, West Kalimantan, Dutch East Indies
Nationality	Indonesian
Political party	United Development Party
Children	Agus Haz
Religion	Sunni Islam

Hamzah Haz (Jawi: حمزه هز ; born 15 February 1940 in Ketapang, West Kalimantan) is an Indonesian politician. He was the Chairman of the United Development Party (1998-2007) and served as the ninth Vice-President from 2001 until 2004.

Hamzah was a newspaper journalist in his home town of Pontianak, on the island of Borneo, and later taught economics at Tanjungpura University.

His political career began in 1968 as a member of the West Kalimantan Provincial Representative Council. He later moved to Jakarta, became a member of the Parliament in 1971, first as a member of the muslim Nahdlatul Ulama Party. After the political fusion which joined all Islamist parties into one party and the withdrawal of Nahdlatul Ulama from politics, in 1973 he became a member of the newly formed Partai Persatuan Pembangunan (PPP).

Hamzah served as Minister for Investment under President B. J. Habibie, who replaced Suharto, then resigned that post to lead the PPP in the 1999 elections. Hamzah joined the cabinet of President Abdurrahman Wahid, then became the first to quit Wahid's first cabinet, resigning as Minister for People's Welfare after just two months.

He became a vocal critic of Wahid, but he is also known for his ability to compromise. By the time of Wahid's impeachment in the summer of 2001, Hamzah was leader of the PPP, then the third-largest party in the Indonesian Parliament. As such, he became the obvious choice for the members of People's Consultative Assembly to fill the vacancy of Vice President's office, as Megawati Sukarnoputri moved up to the Presidency.

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