S

oon after he met President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to tender his resignation from his position as the youth and sports minister on Friday, Andi Mallarangeng headed to his office in Senayan, South Jakarta.

After attending a press conference, Andi went to his office on the top floor of the building surely not to work, but to pack his belongings.

He resigned on Friday morning, less than 24 hours after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) slapped him with a travel ban for his alleged role in the multibillion rupiah graft case centering on the construction of the Hambalang sports center in Bogor, West Java.

The ban says Andi is a suspect in the Hambalang case. Andi, who was seen as a potential leader, now has to follow the legal process for his alleged role in the graft scandal.

Like father like son, politics was in Andi’s blood from the beginning. He was born on March 14, 1963, in Makassar, South Sulawesi, into a family of politicians. His father was a former mayor of Parepare in South Sulawesi, while his grandfather was a former regent in Grobogan, Central Java, before being moved to Bone in South Sulawesi. He was one of the South Sulawesi youths who persuaded the kings in South Sulawesi to surrender its sovereignty and join the republic.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in social and political sciences, Andi started his career as a lecturer at Hasanuddin University in Makassar, South Sulawesi in 1988.

He obtained his doctoral degree in politics from Northern Illinois University in 1997 and later became a lecturer at the Institute of Public Administration Sciences (IIP).

He then became a prominent political analyst. In 1998, Andi was asked to join “Team Seven” to formulate Law No. 22/1999 on regional autonomy.

Andi was elected as a member of the General Elections Commission (KPU) that held the very first democratic election in the country in 1999.

Andi, together with Ryaas Rasyid, a former minister of regional autonomy, founded a now-defunct political party called the Unity Democratic Nationalist Party (PDK) in 2002.

He quit the party for good when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asked Andi to join him.

The President trusted Andi to become his spokesperson between 2004 and 2009. Their relationship grew as Yudhoyono appointed Andi as Youth and Sports minister, replacing Adyaksa Dault, in 2009.

“He’s young, professional and a good tennis player. The President atrusts him wholeheartedly. He’s very smart, as shown by his doctorate degree,” then Democratic Party lawmaker Jafar Hafsah said of Andi upon his promotion as a minister.

It was then that Andi allegedly turned to money politics. Under Andi’s leadership, the budget to construct the Hambalang sports complex swelled from Rp 125 billion (US$12.9 million) to Rp 1.17 trillion.

Disgraced former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin accused Andi and his party’s chairman, Anas Urbaningrum, of accepting money from the Hambalang construction project.

Andi said his resignation allowed him to concentrate on the legal process ahead.

“Everybody is equal before the law. This is the process of a true democracy,” he said after the KPK’s travel ban had been issued.

At least that showed Andi had not earned his doctorate degree for nothing. (riz)