Rizal Mallarangeng
Rizal Mallarangeng (born October 29, 1964) is an Indonesian politician. He served as a senior advisor to Indonesia's Coordinating Economic Minister (2004-2005) and Coordinating Welfare Minister (2005-2008) Aburizal Bakrie. He also served as a member of Golkar Party's Leadership Committee under Aburizal Bakrie and Airlangga Hartarto. He was born in Makassar, South Sulawesi. After obtaining his doctorate degree in Ohio State University, he returned to Indonesia and started his career as a political researcher, speechwriter to the Indonesian president Megawati Soekarnoputri, and talkshow host for Metro TV. In 2008, he declared that he would run for the 2009 Indonesian presidential election; however, he had to withdraw from the race due to his low electability. Subsequently, he joined the Golkar Party and was appointed as the Head of Policy Research under Aburizal Bakrie. Later he was appointed as the acting Chairman of Golkar Party’s DKI Jakarta Chapter and the Coordinator of Special Fundraising under Airlangga Hartarto. Rizal wrote several books and articles on politics and economy. He is the founder of Freedom Institute, a think tank for young intellectuals and writers. Early life Mallarangeng was born in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on October 29, 1964. His father was Andi Mallarangeng, former mayor