Fachrul Razi

Fachrul Razi (born 26 July 1947) is an Indonesian retired military general and politician who has been Indonesia's Minister of Religious Affairs since October 2019. He was the final Deputy Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces between 1999 and 2000 also one of the founders of political party Hanura.

Life
Fachrul Razi was born in Banda Aceh on 26 July 1947. He is a Minangkabau descent from Maninjau, West Sumatra. Razi graduated from the Indonesian Military Academy as part of its 1970 cohort.

Army
Throughout his career in the Indonesian Army, Razi specialized in infantry, and was promoted to general officer rank around 1995-1996. He commanded Indonesia's Garuda Contingent between August 1989 and September 1990 as part of the United Nations Iran–Iraq Military Observer Group, while ranked lieutenant colonel.

He became the governor of the military academy (1996-1997) and the operational assistant to the armed forces chief of staff (1997-1998), before eventually becoming chief of staff himself between 1998 and 1999. In 1999, he was made deputy commander under Admiral Widodo Adi Sutjipto. However, president Abdurrahman Wahid requested the abolishing of Razi's position, and in 2000 Razi was removed from his post.

In a 2004 interview, Razi defended Wiranto's (then TNI commander) actions during the 1998 Jakarta riots, during which Razi was chief of staff. Razi was part of a military council in 1998 which fired Prabowo Subianto from his position, and when a letter claimed to be the official letter of Prabowo's removal circulated in 2014, Razi confirmed its validity.

Post-service
After retiring from active service, Razi was appointed president commissioner at aquaculture company Central Proteina Prima. In 2015, he was also appointed to the position at state-owned company PT Antam. In addition, he also serves as president commissioner at Toba Sejahtera Group, which belongs to Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.

Razi became one of the founders of the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) in 2006 and in the 2009 Indonesian presidential election, Razi endorsed the Jusuf Kalla-Wiranto ticket. He then endorsed Joko Widodo's successful run in the 2014 Indonesian presidential election, and became an adviser for defense during the construction of the new cabinet.

In the 2019 Indonesian presidential election, Razi led the "Bravo 5" team, composing of retired armed forces officers supporting Joko Widodo's ultimately successful reelection campaign.

Minister of Religious Affairs
Razi was appointed Minister of Religious Affairs in the Developed Indonesia Cabinet on 23 October 2019 by the President of Indonesia, replacing Lukman Hakim Saifuddin. Soon after his appointment, Razi floated a possible regulation banning the use of face veils and "cingkrang" trousers - articles often worn by Muslims - from being worn in government premises.