3rdPresident
of Indonesia
|
|
In
office
21 May 1998 – 20 October 1999 |
|
Vice
President
|
none
|
Preceded
by
|
Suharto
|
Succeeded
by
|
Abdurrahman Wahid
|
7thVice
President of Indonesia
|
|
In
office
10 March 1998 – 21 May 1998 |
|
President
|
Suharto
|
Preceded
by
|
Try Sutrisno
|
Succeeded
by
|
Megawati Sukarnoputri
|
Personal
details
|
|
Born
|
25 June 1936
(age 75)
Pare-Pare, South Sulawesi, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) |
Political
party
|
GolonganKarya
|
Spouse(s)
|
HasriAinunBesari,
(m. 1962-2010, her death)
|
Children
|
Ilham
Akbar Habibie (b. 1963)
Thareq Kemal Habibie (b. 1967) |
Occupation
|
Engineer,
Aviation Industrialist, Politician
|
Religion
|
Islam
|
BacharuddinJusufHabibiepronunciation (born
25 June 1936), also known B. J. Habibie, is a former politician of the
State of Indonesia. His presidency (1998 - 1999) was the third and that of
shortest duration after independence.
Early life
Habibie was born in Parepare, South Sulawesi Province to Abdul JalilHabibie and R. A.
Tuti Marini Puspowardojo. His father was an agriculturist from Gorontalo and his mother was a Javanesenoblewoman from Yogyakarta. His parents met while studying in Bogor. When he was 14 years old, Habibie's father died.
Studies and Career in
Germany
Following his father's
death, Habibie continued his studies in Jakarta and then in 1955, he moved to
Germany.
In 1960, in Germany,
Habibie received a 'Diplom-Ingenieur', a degree in engineering. He remained in
Germany as a research assistant under
Hans Ebner at
the Lehrstuhl und InstitutfürLeichtbau, RWTHAachen, to conduct research for his doctoral degree.
In 1962, Habibie
returned to Indonesia for three months on sick leave. During this time, he was reacquainted with HasriAinun, the daughter of R. MohamadBesari. Habibie had known
HasriAinun in childhood, junior high school and in senior high school at
SMA-Kristen, Bandung. The two married on 12th May, 1962, returning to Germany
shortly afterwards. Habibie and his wife settled in Aachen for a short period before moving to Oberforstbach. In
May 1963, they had a son, Ilham Akbar Habibie.
When Habibie's minimum
wage salary forced him into part-time work, he found employment with the
automotive marque Talbot where he became an adviser. Habibie worked on two projects
which received funded from Deutsche Bundesbahn.
Due to his work with
Makosh, the Head of Train Constructions offered his position to Habibie upon
retirement 3 years later, but Habibie refused.
In 1965, Habibie
delivered his thesis in aerospace engineering and received "very
good" for his Doktor der Ingenieurwissenschaften). During the same year,
he accepted Hans Ebner's offer to continue his research on Thermoelastisitas and Habilitation, but refused to join RWTH as a professor per se. His thesis
about light construction for supersonic or hypersonic states also attracted
offers of employment from companies such as Boeing and Airbus which Habibie again declined.
Habibie did accept a
place with Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm in
Hamburg. There, he developed theories on thermodynamics, construction, and
aerodynamics, known as the Habibie Factor, Habibie Theorem, and Habibie Method,
respectively.
Habibie's time in Europe may have contributed to his
interest in the Leica cameras.
Career in Indonesia
On his return to
Indonesia in 1974, Habibie was made Chief Executive Officer of
the new State owned enterprise, IndustriPesawatTerbang Nusantara (IPTN). (In 1985, PT. Nurtanio changed its name to
Indonesian Aviation Industry and is now known as Indonesian
Aerospace Inc. (Dirgantara)). By the 1980s, IPTN
had grown considerably, specializing in the manufacturing of helicopters and
small passenger planes.
Habibie became a pilot,
assisted in his training by A.B. Wolff, former Chief of Staff of the Dutch Airforce. In
1995, he flew an N-250 (dubbed Gatotkoco) commuter plane.
In developing Indonesia's Aviation Industry, he adopted
an approach called "Begin at the End and End at the Beginning".In
this method, elements such as basic research became the last things upon which
to focus, whilst actual manufacturing of the planes was placed as the first
objective.
Member of Golkar
In Suharto's regime, as was expected of senior government
executives, Habibie was became a member of the Golkarorganisation. From 1993–1998, he was a daily coordinator
for the chairman of the Executive Board.
Vice Presidency
In January 1998, after
accepting nomination for a 7th term as President, Suharto announced the
selection criteria for the nomination of the Vice President. Suharto did not
mention Habibie by name but his suggestion that the next Vice President should
have mastery over science and technology made it obvious he had Habibie in
mind.
In that year, in the
midst of the Asian Financial Crisis, this
suggestion was received badly, causing the rupiah to fall. Despite this and protests (the former minister Emil Salim tried to nominate himself as Vice President), Habibie
was elected as Vice President in March 1998.
Presidency
Main article: Post-Suharto Era
Rise to office
By May 1998, problems
including poverty had caused such discontent that Suharto's government fell
into crisis. On May 13, the shooting of four students at Trisakti University in
Jakarta, caused extreme anger which in turn led to widespread riots and
lootings. There were now explicit calls for Suharto to step down as President
of Indonesia.
Suharto responded by
saying on May 19, 1998 that if he stepped down, the Vice President would become
President and in a not too subtle a jab at Habibie, he added he was not sure
whether the Vice President could solve the problems facing the country.
After learning of
Suharto's comments from television reports, Habibie discounted his mentor and
became increasingly sympathetic to those who wanted Suharto to step down. While
careful not to oppose him directly or support those who did, he left the
president in little doubt that he saw himself as Suharto's legitimate
successor.
Suharto, faced with
dwindling civilian and military support, even among loyalists like Wiranto and GinandjarKartasasmita,
resigned late on the evening of May 20, 1998.
The next morning, on May
21, 1998, Suharto publicly announced his resignation and Habibie was
immediately sworn in as President. There were mixed reactions to Habibie's
elevation to the Presidency. Hardline reformists saw him as an extension of
Suharto's regime while moderate reformists saw him as leading a transitional
Government.
With the release of
Suharto's 2006 book, Detik-Detik Yang Menentukan: JalanPanjang Indonesia
MenujuDemokrasi (Decisive Moments:
Indonesia's Long Road Towards Democracy), there is speculation that Suharto had
wanted Habibie to resign along with him.
In
Javanese style, Suharto had subtly hinted at this intention. Habibie, despite
being of Javanese descent, did not take the hint nor acquiesce. Because his
intentions had been ignored, Suharto showed nothing but contempt for Habibie
and never spoke to his former colleague again.
Cabinet
Habibie's Cabinet, which
was called the Development Reform Cabinet,
employed many of those present in Suharto's last Cabinet. However, to show his
reformist intentions, Habibie included United Development Party (PPP)
member HamzahHaz.
East Timor
Habibie opposed East Timorese
Independence but did consider giving
East Timor special autonomy.
In late 1998, John Howard, then Prime Minister of Australia advised Indonesia of a change in Australian Foreign
Policy to whit Australia would advocate a referendum in East Timor on independence within a decade. Wishing to avoid the
impression that Indonesia ruled East Timor as a colony, Habibiesurprised some
by announcing that a referendum, offering choice between special autonomy and
independence, would be held in East Timor. ABRI opposed this decision.
On 30 August 1999, the
referendum was held and the East Timorese people chose overwhelmingly for
Independence. However, the retreat of Indonesian troops from East Timor created
the 1999 East Timorese crisis where
many were killed.
Suharto's corruption
charge
The MPR Special Session
in November 1998 declared that an investigation should be made into corruption
in Indonesia, focussing particularly on Suharto.
Habibie formed a special
commission into corruption which, to the Reformasi, represented a gesture of good faith. Noted lawyer Adnan BuyungNasution was invited to chair the investigation. The broad scope
of the terms of reference Nasution suggested was unacceptable to Habibie who
then appointed Attorney General and loyalist, Andi Muhammad Ghalib.
On 9 December 1998,
Suharto was questioned for three hours by Ghalib. The Habibie Government
declared that Suharto had gained his wealth through corruption.
A tape of a telephone
conversation between Habibie and Ghalib was made public. It raised concerns
about the veracity of the investigation.
The economy
Habibie's Government
stabilized the economy in the face of the Asian Financial Crisis and the chaos
of the last few months of Suharto's Presidency.
Social
Habibie's government
began to make concilliatory gestures towards Chinese Indonesians who,
because of their elite status, were targeted in the riots of 1998. In September
1998, Habibie issued a 'Presidential Instruction' forbidding use of the terms pribumi and non-pribumi to differentiate indigenous and non-indigenous
Indonesians.
In May 1999,
Habibie issued a further instruction directing that a display of ID Card would
suffice as proof of Indonesian citenzenship whereas previously, displaying the
'Letter of Evidence of Republic of Indonesia Citizenship' (SBKRI) was required.
Although the Chinese Indonesian community was not mentioned specifically, it is
clear these policies were targeted towards Chinese Indonesians who, in the
Suharto years, were referred to as non-Pribumi and had to display SBKRI to prove their
Indonesian citizenship.
Other
When Habibie was a State
Minister for Research and Technology, he created a program called OFP (Overseas
Fellowship program), SMDP (Science and Manpower Development Program) and STAID
(Science and Technology for Industrial Development). The three programs were to
provide scholarships to thousands of students to continue their study for
master’s and doctorate program in the United States, Europe, Japan, and others.
End of presidency
Although he had been
viewed as leading a transitional government, he seemed determined to continue
as president. In May 1999, Golkar announced that Habibie would be their
presidential candidate.
At the 1999 MPR General
Session in October, Habibie delivered an accountability speech which was a
report of what he had achieved during his presidency. Once this was completed,
MPR members began voting to decide if they would accept or reject his speech. During
this process, pro-Reform members of Golkar broke with the ranks and voted
against him, and his accountability speech was rejected 355 votes to 322.
Seeing that it would be inappropriate to press his candidacy for the presidency
after having his accountability speech rejected, Habibie withdrew his
nomination.
Post-presidency
Since relinquishing the
presidency, he has spent more time in Germany than in Indonesia, however he has
during SusiloBambangYudoyono's presidency been active both as a presidential
adviser and through The Habibie Centre to ensure democratisation in Indonesia.
In September 2006, he
released a book called Detik-Detik
Yang Menentukan: JalanPanjang Indonesia MenujuDemokrasi (Decisive
Moments: Indonesia's Long Road Towards Democracy). The book recalled the events
of May 1998 which led to his rise to the Presidency. In the book, he
controversially accuses Lieutenant GeneralPrabowoSubianto, Suharto's son-in-law (at that time)
and the Kostrad Commander, of planning
a coup d'état against him in May 1998.
Family
Habibie was married to HasriAinunBesari, a medical doctor, from 12 May 1962 until her death on 22 May 2010. The
couple had two sons, Ilham Akbar Habibie and Thareq Kemal Habibie. BJ Habibie's
brother, Junus Effendi Habibie, was Indonesian ambassador to the Netherlands.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._J._Habibie
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