15 Facts About Hazairin

Hazairin was the Indonesia's Minister of Home Affairs from 30 July 1953 to 18 November 1954, serving in the First Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet.

Hazairin was born in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra, Dutch East Indies on 28 November 1906 to a strict religious family of Persian descent.

Hazairin's father, Zakaria Bahar, was a teacher from Bengkulu and his mother was of Minangkabau descent.

Hazairin later left for Bandung, in West Java, to study at the Algemene Middelbare School there, graduating in 1927.

Hazairin then went to Batavia to study at the Institute of Law, focusing on adat law.

Hazairin was the only native Indonesian doctor to graduate from the Batavia Institute of Law.

In 1938 Hazairin obtained a post at a court in Padang Sidempuan, North Sumatra, where he stayed until the Japanese invaded the Indies in 1942; during the same period he served to enforce adat law throughout South Tapanuli.

In 1950 Hazairin returned to Jakarta, becoming a lecturer on adat and Islamic law at the University of Indonesia.

Hazairin later was selected as Minister of Internal Affairs for the First Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet, serving from 30 July 1953 to 18 November 1954.

Hazairin later served in the Ministry of Justice, retiring in 1959.

Hazairin taught at the Jakarta School of Policing.

Hazairin wrote extensively on marriage law in relation to Islam, and is considered a moderate.

Hazairin saw Islam as having a bilateral marriage system; in other words, not matrilineal and not patrilineal.

Hazairin was a polyglot, fluent in Dutch, Indonesian, English, and French, with a passive comprehension of Arabic, Latin, and German.

Hazairin published 17 works regarding adat and Islamic law, with those about adat noting the diversity found in Indonesia, and those on Islamic law pushing for an amalgamation of Islamic and secular law.