JAKARTA: Former Indonesian vice president Hamzah Haz has been admitted to the Gatot Soebroto Army Hospital in Jakarta for organ disorder.
“Pray for his speedy recovery. He is suffering (from) organ disorder because of old age,” secretary general of the United Development Party, Arsul Sani said.
Hamzah, who helmed the party from 1998 to 2007, has had no eating difficulties while being treated at the hospital, he informed.
“That’s true (he is still eating well),” he said.
Born in Ketapang, West Kalimantan, on February 15, 1940, Hamzah held the post of vice president from 2001 to 2004.
Before assuming the post, he was the coordinating minister for people’s welfare and poverty eradication in the cabinet of then president KH Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur).
He was elected the ninth vice president on July 26, 2001 after winning the vice presidential election in the parliament by beating the then chairman of Golkar Party, Akbar Tanjung, and other contenders.
Under the leadership of Hamzah, PPP won the third largest votes after the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) in the 1999 and 2004 general elections.
