TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Former Indonesian trade minister and lawmaker Rachmat Gobel died on Friday, July 10, at the age of 63, according to officials from the NasDem Party.
Hermawi Taslim, secretary-general of the NasDem Party, confirmed Gobel's death in a brief message on Friday morning.
According to information shared by the party and a statement posted on Gobel's official Instagram account, he died at 03:20 AM local time at Brawijaya Tebet Hospital in South Jakarta.
Gobel is survived by his wife, Retno Damayanti, two children, Nurfitria Sekarwilis Kusumawardhannie and Mohammad Arif Gobel, as well as grandchildren and extended family members.
His body is being laid in state at a funeral home on Jalan Supomo in South Jakarta, while burial is scheduled to take place in Gorontalo. Further details regarding the funeral arrangements are expected to be announced by the family.
In a statement, the family requested prayers from the public for Gobel and asked that he be forgiven for his shortcomings and granted peace in the afterlife.
Business and Political Career
Born in Gorontalo on September 3, 1962, Gobel was a prominent Indonesian businessman and politician. He served as Indonesia's trade minister under former president Joko Widodo in 2014.
He later became a member of the House of Representatives (DPR) and served as deputy speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) during the 2019-2024 term.
Gobel was also widely known as a leader of the Gobel Group, one of Indonesia's major business conglomerates and the longtime local partner of Japan's Panasonic Group.
He was the fifth child of the late businessman Thayeb Mohammad Gobel and Annie Nento Gobel and had been prepared from an early age to continue the family's business legacy.
In 1987, Gobel earned a bachelor's degree in international trade from Chuo University in Tokyo. Following his graduation, he underwent professional training at the Matsushita Group near Osaka, Japan.
At the age of 27, he returned to Indonesia in 1989 and joined the Gobel Group, where he later emerged as one of the country's most influential business figures while also pursuing a career in politics.
Read: Prabowo: It Is a Sin for Leaders to Lie to the People
Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News
