W

hen the public learned Mohammad S. Hidayat was summoned to the President's private residence as candidate for Industry Minister last week, there was hardly a negative murmur.

Hidayat was warmly welcomed to head the ministry, replacing Fahmi Idris.

The country's most respected economists, business association chairmen, as well as other business practitioners were among those voicing their belief that Hidayat, who had led the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) since 2004, was the best candidate to do the job.

"I have confidence in him. His long business experience will definitely help upgrade our economy and bring us better global position, particularly in Asia," Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo) chairman Bambang Trisulo.

Hidayat offers not only experience in managing business, of which he said to be personally responsible for assets worth US$70 million, he is also an astute political operator who has managed to make his way up from the lower ranks of the Golkar Party, under the aegis of former chairman Akbar Tandjung.

Hidayat's success in both business and politics, they argued, is a result of his creativity and attractive personality. The man, born in Jombang, West Java, on Dec. 2, 1944, is well known for his ability to bring people together. This very skill, some economists say, would be valuable in strengthening the cooperation of the industry ministry with strategic partners such as the trade minister, which faltered under Fahmi's watch.

Hidayat fully understood the situation. He recently told reporters that communications between ministries must be improved. "We have to have harmony," he said.

People who are close to Hidayat, especially those who grew up with him during his school years in the seventies in Bandung, said he had always been "a nice guy to hang out with". They say Hidayat was sociable with all kinds of people, including the rich, the poor, and philistines as well as sophisticates.

After moving on from the faculty of economics at Padjajaran University in Bandung, he continued his education by taking a course on property business development in Japan. Hidayat knew that the property business in Indonesia would become big business as the country, in the late 1970s, was beginning to reap the benefits from the burgeoning oil industry.

And he was right.

In the 1980s, at the age of 36, Hidayat was already a commissioner of a property company in Bandung he helped to build up from scratch, the Puteraco Group. Within the same year he was appointed as the chairman of the West Java chapter of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (HIMPI).

He later became a more prominent businessman with the expansion of his property business. He then served as the chairman of the Indonesian Real Estate Association (REI) from 1989 to 1992. During that time, he was also chosen as the deputy chairman of Asia Pacific Real Estate Federation (APREF). Before reaching Kadin's top post in 2004, Hidayat had previously served as the chairman of the Kadin West Java chapter during the 1985 - 1993 period.

Hidayat has more recently expanded his business to include other sectors like offices, hospitality, telecommunication and energy.

Among companies currently under Hidayat's ownership are PT Graha Niaga Tata Utama focusing in office buildings, PT Minergy Nusa Resources (mining), PT Mandiri Sejahtera Hutama (a holding company), and PT Merdeka Wirastama (industrial estates).

As a politician, he was also a member of the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2009.

As the new chief of the industry ministry, Hidayat has vowed to do better. He probably knows what to do as his leadership role in Kadin included ordering an expert on the real sector, Faisal Basri of University of Indonesia, to draft the widely praised 2010 Industry Roadmap and Indonesia: Vision 2030.