Jakarta-- Indonesian Minister for People's Welfare Hamzah Haz has resigned amid allegations he was involved in a 13 billion rupiah (1.8 million dollars) corruption scandal, a presidential press official said Friday.
President Abdurrahman Wahid has appointed Basri Hasanuddin, a professor at the Hasanuddin University to replace him, said Darmawan Ronodipuro, the head of presidential press affairs.
Press reports had earlier said Haz planned to resign amid discontent at the policies of Wahid who was elected in October. One of Wahid's first pledges was to fight corruption.
Haz, the chairman of the Muslim United Development Party and investment minister under former president B.J. Habibie, has been accused of receiving the money from Habibie to fund his party's campaign in the June elections.
Under election rules individuals can only donate up to 15 million rupiah to a party campaign. Furthermore there have been suspicions the money might have come from the state coffers.
Haz has denied the charges, saying they were intended to undermine his party which came in fourth in the elections, but holds the third largest number of seats in the 500-seat parliament.
Speculation has mounted that Haz was one of three ministers being investigated as part of an inquiry launched by Wahid into past corrupt practices.
Although Wahid did not mention names, several press reports have named the three as Haz, Manpower Minister Bomer Pasaribu, and Justice and Law Yusril Ihza Mahendra.
However, Wahid has already said that Mahendra, chairman of the Muslim Crescent and Star Party, was not among the three despite newspaper allegations that the party received campaign funding of 1.5 billion (214,285 dollars) from Habibie. Pasaribu meanwhile has challenged the authorities to find evidence of allegations against him.
Clean government has been a key reformist demand by Indonesians sickened by three decades of corrupt and nepotistic rule under former president Suharto, and Wahid has called on any new ministers tainted by corruption to step down voluntarily.
Suharto was forced to resign in May 1998 amid widespread riots and a crippling economic crisis. Wahid has also insisted that cabinet ministers should declare their wealth at the beginning of their five-year terms.