After days of public controversy, State Secretary Pratikno announced on Monday evening at the presidential office that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had dismissed Arcandra Tahar from his post as energy and mineral resources minister. Arcandra had held the position for 19 days.

“Responding to the public statement regarding the citizenship status of Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar, and after collecting information from several sources, the President has decided to dismiss with honor Arcandra Tahar from his position as energy and mineral resources minister. [The President] has appointed Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan as acting energy and mineral resources minister until a definitive minister is appointed,” Pratikno said.

Luhut is the coordinating maritime affairs minister.

After the very brief statement, Pratikno said the decision would be effective as of Tuesday morning as it was only reached on Monday night. Asked whether the decision was based on political or legal reasons, Pratikno said his “statement was clear enough, through the consideration of many things, of various dimensions”.

Rumors have circulated in the past week that Arcandra, who lived in the US for 20 years, held two passports — one from the US and one from Indonesia. The 2006 Citizenship Law stipulates that Indonesians automatically lose their Indonesian citizenship if they voluntarily accept foreign citizenship.

Previously, both Arcandra and Pratikno dodged the rumors by repeatedly saying that Arcandra held an Indonesian passport, but not confirming whether he indeed had a US passport. (evi)