Susi Pudjiastuti facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Susi Pudjiastuti
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Official portrait, 2014
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| 7th Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of Indonesia | |
| In office 27 October 2014 – 20 October 2019 |
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| President | Joko Widodo |
| Preceded by | Sharif Cicip Sutarjo |
| Succeeded by | Edhy Prabowo |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 January 1965 Pangandaran, West Java, Indonesia |
| Children | 3 |
| Parents | H. Ahmad Karlan (father) Hj. Suwuh Lasminah (mother) |
| Education | SMA Negeri 1 Yogyakarta |
| Alma mater | Diponegoro University (Dr.h.c.) |
Susi Pudjiastuti, born on January 15, 1965, is a famous Indonesian businesswoman. She also served as a very important government official, the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries for Indonesia. She held this role from 2014 to 2019 under President Joko Widodo. Susi Pudjiastuti is also the owner of two big companies: PT ASI Pudjiastuti Marine Product, which sells seafood, and PT ASI Pudjiastuti Aviation, which runs the Susi Air charter airline.
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Susi Pudjiastuti's Early Life and Education
Susi Pudjiastuti was born in Pangandaran, West Java, on January 15, 1965. Her parents were Haji Ahmad Karlan and Hajjah Suwuh Lasminah. Even though her family was Javanese, they had lived in Pangandaran for five generations. This area is mostly home to Sundanese people. Her family's business mainly involved real estate and raising livestock.
After finishing junior high school, Susi went to senior high school in Yogyakarta. However, she did not finish her studies there. She was asked to leave school because of her involvement in a student movement. This movement was about protesting the government at that time. Susi Pudjiastuti was the first Indonesian minister who had not completed high school. But after she became a minister, she enrolled in a special program to get her high school diploma, and she officially graduated in 2018.
Susi Pudjiastuti has three children: Panji Hilmansyah, Nadine Kaiser, and Alvy Xavier.
Susi Air and Her Business Journey
In 1983, Susi Pudjiastuti started her career as a businesswoman. She began by selling seafood at a fish market in Pangandaran. Her small business grew into a seafood processing factory in 1996. This factory was called PT ASI Pudjiastuti Marine Product. It specialized in exporting high-quality lobsters, which were sold under the 'Susi Brand'. Her company expanded and started sending its products to countries in Asia and America.
How Susi Air Started
As the demand for fresh seafood from PT ASI Pudjiastuti Marine Product grew, Susi realized she needed a faster way to transport her products. So, in 2004, she bought a Cessna 208 Caravan airplane. With this plane, she started PT ASI Pudjiastuti Aviation. The Cessna plane was given the name 'Susi Air'. It was used to fly fresh Indonesian seafood to Jakarta and even overseas to places like Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan.
Susi Air's Role in Helping People
In 2004, a huge tsunami hit Aceh and the west coast of Sumatra. Susi Air, which only had two planes at the time, was one of the first to help. They delivered food and supplies to people in areas that were hard to reach. During this time, many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) hired Susi Air for humanitarian relief missions in Aceh. The money Susi Air earned from these missions helped them buy new airplanes. This allowed them to expand their flights to other parts of Indonesia, like Papua and Kalimantan. Today, Susi Air is the largest operator of Cessna Grand Caravans in the Asia Pacific region.
Becoming the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries
On October 26, 2014, President Joko Widodo chose Susi Pudjiastuti to be the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. She became part of his government, known as the 2014–2019 working cabinet. Before she accepted this important job, Susi gave up her roles as the head of PT ASI Pudjiastuti Marine Product and PT ASI Pudjiastuti Aviation.
Fighting Illegal Fishing
When Susi became minister, she faced a big challenge. Many foreign fishing boats were illegally fishing in Indonesian waters. Indonesia has about 17,500 islands, and its waters are full of marine life. Susi took strong action. She ordered hundreds of foreign fishing boats that were fishing illegally to be seized and destroyed. Because of her efforts, most of the 10,000 foreign fishing boats that used to steal fish from Indonesia's waters have now left.
From 2013 to 2017, the amount of fish in Indonesia's waters more than doubled under her leadership. In April 2018, she even ordered the capture of a famous illegal fishing boat called the Andrey Dolgov.
Awards for Her Work
On September 16, 2016, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) gave Susi Pudjiastuti the Leaders for a Living Planet Award. This award recognized her hard work as Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. She was honored for promoting sustainable fishing and protecting the ocean's ecosystem in Indonesia. She was also praised for her tough actions against illegal fishing.
A study published in a science journal called Nature Ecology & Evolution showed how effective Susi's policies were. It said that her strong actions against illegal fishing reduced the total fishing effort by at least 25%. This could lead to a 14% increase in fish caught and a 12% increase in profits for legal fishermen.
Awards and Honors
- Leaders for Living Planet Award; by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). 2016
- Doctor Honoris Causa (Dr.h.c.) by Diponegoro University. 2016
- The BBC 100 Women. 2017
