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Title
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B. J. Habibie
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Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie
(born 25 June 1936) is an Indonesian engineer who was President of Indonesia
from 1998 to 1999. Habibie was born in Parepare,
South Sulawesi Province to Alwi Abdul Jalil Habibie and R. A. Tuti Marini
Puspowardojo. His father was an agriculturist
from Gorontalo
descent and his mother was a Javanese noblewoman
from Yogyakarta.
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Event
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His parents met
while studying in Bogor.
Habibie's father died when he was 14 years old. Habibie
went to Delft,
the Netherlands,
to study aviation and aerospace at the Technische Hogeschool Delft
(Delft University of Technology), but for political reasons (the West New Guinea dispute
between the Netherlands and Indonesia), he had to continue his study at the Technische Hochschule Aachen
(RWTH Aachen University) in Aachen, Germany. In 1960, Habibie received a engineer's
degree in Germany with the title Diplom-Ingenieur.
He remained in Germany as a research
assistant under Hans Ebner at the Lehrstuhl und Institut für
Leichtbau, RWTH Aachen
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 Hasri Ainun,
the daughter of R. Mohamad Besari. Habibie had known Hasri Ainun in
childhood, junior high school and in senior high school at SMA Kristen Dago
(Dago Christian Senior High School), Bandung.
The two married on 12 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 advisor. Habibie worked on two projects which received
funding from Deutsche
Bundesbahn.
Due to his work with Makosh, the head of train
constructions offered his position to Habibie upon retirement three years
later, but Habibie refused.
In 1965, Habibie delivered his thesis in aerospace
engineering and received the grade of "very good" for his
dissertation, giving him the title Doktor-Ingenieur
(Dr.-Ing.). During the same year, he accepted Hans Ebner's offer to continue
his research on Thermoelastisitas and work toward his Habilitation,
but he declined the offer 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 position 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. He worked for Messerschmit on the development of the
Airbus A-300B aircraft. In 1974, he was promoted to vice president of the
company.
In 1974, Suharto recruited Habibie to return to
Indonesia as part of Suharto's drive to industrialize and develop the
country. Habibie initially served as a special assistant to Ibnu Sutowo, the
CEO of state oil company Pertamina. Two years later, in 1976, Habibie was
made Chief Executive Officer of the new state-owned enterprise Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara
(IPTN).
(In 1985, PT. Nurtanio changed its name to Indonesian Aviation Industry and
is now known as Indonesian
Aerospace (Dirgantara)). In 1978, he was
appointed as Minister of Research and Technology. He continued to play an
important role in IPTN other "strategic" industries in this post.
By the 1980s, IPTN had grown considerably, specializing in the manufacture of
helicopters and small passenger planes; by 1991, Habibie oversaw ten
state-owned industries including ship- and train-building, steel, arms,
communications, and energy.
A 1993 estimate determined that the estimates used nearly $2 billion a year
in state funding, although the government's opaque accounting practices meant
that the size of the industries was not completely known.
Habibie became a pilot, assisted in his training by
A.B. Wolff, former chief of staff of the Dutch Air Force. 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. Under Habibie's leadership, IPTN became a manufacturer of
aircraft including Puma helicopters and CASA planes. It pioneered a small
passenger airplane, the N-250 Gatokaca,
in 1995, but the project was a commercial failure.
In 1994, ABC news report of
Suharto announcing he would retire in 1998, including an interview with
Habibie, who was Minister of Research and Technology, declaring no interest
in becoming president.
In Suharto's
regime, as was expected of senior government executives, Habibie became a
member of the Golkar
organisation. From 1993 to 1999, he was a daily coordinator for the chairman
of the executive board.
In January 1998, after accepting nomination for a
seventh term as President, Suharto announced the selection criteria for the
nomination of a vice president. Suharto did not mention Habibie by name, but
his suggestion that the next vice president should have a mastery of 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.
Habibie opposed East Timorese Independence
but did consider giving East Timor special autonomy. In late 1998, John Howard,
the Prime Minister of Australia, sent a letter to Habibie suggesting that
Indonesia defuse the East Timorese issue by providing autonomy to be followed
by the promise of a referendum in the long run, following the method used by
France to settle New Caledonian demands for independence. Wishing to avoid
the impression that Indonesia ruled East Timor as a colony, Habibie surprised
some by announcing that a referendum,
offering a choice between special autonomy and independence, would be held
immediately in East Timor. ABRI was not consulted on this decision.
On 30 August 1999, the referendum was held and the
East Timorese people overwhelmingly chose Independence in mostly free and
fair elections. However, the retreat of Indonesian troops from East Timor
created the 1999 East Timorese crisis
where many were killed. Although Habibie favored the quick deployment of a UN
peacekeeping force to halt violence, the military opposed this plan. On
September 10, General Wiranto allegedly threatened to stage a military coup
if Habibie allowed in peacekeeping forces, causing Habibie to back down.
Habibie also publicly ordered security personnel to stop violence in the
territory, but his orders went largely unheeded.
The MPR Special Session in November 1998 declared
that an investigation should be made into corruption in Indonesia, focusing
particularly on Suharto. Habibie formed a special commission on corruption
which, to the Reformasi,
represented a gesture of good faith. The noted lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution
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 by suggesting that the interrogation of Suharto was intended
only for public appearances.
Under Habibie, the Indonesian government also began
investigating and prosecuting Suharto's youngest son, Tommy Suharto. Tommy
was charged by Ghalib in December 1998 in conjunction with the Goro scandal,
where the government, under pressure from Tommy, allegedly gave him a
desirable parcel and below-market loan for the construction of a Goro
supermarket. However, Tommy was found innocent in the case after several key
witnesses, including one of Habibie's aides - Rahardi Ramelan - changed their
testimony and declared that the deal did not cause losses to the state.
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. Habibie's government began to make conciliatory
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 an ID card would suffice as proof of Indonesian
citizenship, whereas previously, displaying a '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 primarily for the Chinese Indonesians who, in the Suharto
years, were referred to as non-pribumi and had to display the SBKRI to prove
their Indonesian citizenship.
When Habibie was State Minister for Research and
Technology, he created the OFP (Overseas Fellowship Program), STMDP (Science
Technology and Manpower Development Program) and STAID (Science and
Technology for Industrial Development). These three programs provided
scholarships to thousands of high school graduates to earn their bachelor
degrees in the STEM fields and for other technical professionals to continue
their study for master’s and doctorate program in the United States, Europe,
Japan, and other countries.
Under Habibie, Indonesia made significant changes to
its political system that expanded competition and freedom of speech. Shortly
after taking office, in June 1998, Habibie's government lifted the
Suharto-era restriction on political parties and ended censorship by
dissolving the Information Ministry. He also quickly committed to holding
democratic elections, albeit on an initially vague timetable. In December, he
proposed political reform laws that were passed by the legislature and MPR
session. These laws set elections for December 1999, reduced the number of
seats in parliament held by the military, and barred political activity by
civil servants.
However, political opponents criticized Habibie for
agreeing to give the military some seats in parliament, and taking little
action on other military and judicial reforms.
The military retained its territorial command system and practice of
seconding officers to civil-service posts, and there were few prosecutions
for Suharto-era corruption under Habibie.
Although he had been viewed as leading a transitional
government, Habibie seemed determined to continue as president. He was
initially unclear about whether he would seek a full term as president when
he announced parliamentary elections in June 1998.
Habibie faced opposition from many within the government party, Golkar; in
July 1998, he struggled to win control of the party by appointing Akbar
Tandjung as chair of the party, but was ultimately able to defeat a rival
camp including former Vice President Try Sutrisno, Defence Minister Edi
Sudrajat, Siswono Yudhohusodo, and Sarwono Kusmumaatmadja.
However, at the same time, Habibie began to lose
support from Akbar Tandjung and a faction in Golkar, composed of both
reformers and hardliners, that wanted to oust him. In March 1999, Golkar put
forth five presidential nominees: Habibie, Tandjung, Wiranto, Hamengkubuwono
X, and Ginandjar Kartasasmita.
In May 1999, Golkar announced that Habibie would be their presidential
candidate after extensive lobbying, but a large faction in the party remained
loyal to Tandjung and opposed to Habibie.
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. Habibie attempted to win
the support of the military by offering the vice-presidency to General
Wiranto, but his offer was declined.
Tandjung's Golkar faction broke with the ranks and voted against him, and his
accountability speech was rejected by 355 votes to 322.
Seeing that it would be inappropriate to press his candidacy for the
presidency after having his accountability speech rejected, Habibie with drew
his nomination.
Since relinquishing the presidency, he has spent
more time in Germany than in Indonesia, though he was active during Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's
presidency 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: Jalan Panjang Indonesia Menuju Demokrasi (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
General Prabowo Subianto,
Suharto's son-in-law (at that time) and the Kostrad
Commander, of planning a coup d'état against him in May 1998.
Habibie was married to Hasri Ainun
Besari, 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. B. J. Habibie's brother, Junus
Effendi Habibie, was Indonesian ambassador to the United Kingdom
and the Netherlands.
After his wife's death, Habibie published a book titled Habibie & Ainun
which recounts his relationship with Hasri Ainun from their courtship until
her death. The book has been adapted into a film of the same name which was
released on December 20, 2012.
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Re-Orientation
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Habibie received several honorary degrees for his
contributions in the fields of technology and science, e.g. he was awarded an
Honorary DSc
degree from the Cranfield Institute of Technology
(United
Kingdom) and Dr.h.c.
degrees from Chungbuk National University
and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
(South Korea)
for his services to aircraft technology.
In 2010, Habibie was honored with an Honorary PhD
degree in Technology by the University of Indonesia
for his contribution to science in practice as a technocrat.
Habibie was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
(FREng) in 1990. In 1993, he was awarded an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society (HonFRAeS).
Sumber : Wikipedia.com (dengan perubahan)
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Monday, May 1, 2017
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