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Biography of Bacharuddin Jusuf HabibieName: Bacharuddin Jusuf HabibieBirth Date: June 25, 1936 Death Date: N/A Place of Birth: Pare-Pare, Indonesia Nationality: Indonesian Gender: Male Occupations: president, politician Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie An aeronautical engineer who became Indonesia's minister of technical development and eventually its president, B.J. Habibie (born 1936) was a lifelong devotee of Indonesian dictator Suharto. When student riots and economic turmoil forced Suharto from office, he named Habibie as his successor.Known as a big-government free-spender and a proponent of bizarre economic theories, Habibie seemed an unlikely candidate to bail out Indonesia from its severe economic crisis of the late 1990s. He was closely identified with Suharto's corrupt policies and distrusted by students, the military, and foreign investors. Yet he instituted reforms and steered the country toward free elections, remaining in power longer than most observers expected.Father FigureBacharuddin Jusuf Habibie was born on June 25, 1936 in the sleepy seaside town of Pare Pare in the Indonesian state of South Sulawesi. The fourth of eight children, he was nicknamed "Rudy" at an early age. His father, Alwi Abdul Jalil Habibie, …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…another Habibie. ... He is an intelligent person, even a genius, and out of the 190 million inhabitants, there is only one B.J. Habibie." Makka also wrote: "B.J. Habibie seemed to possess supernatural power, which made him succeed in everything he did."In October of 1999, after enduring months of personal attacks, corruption scandals and splits within his own party in a battle for his political future, Habibie stepped down as the Golkar (Golongan Karya, Functional Groups) presidential candidate and later overturned the Presidency to the elected candidate. In 2002, he underwent questioning for a .3 million graft case but maintained his innocence in the case. The accusation of corruption weakened his party. Further Reading The Economist, November 21, 1998; November 28, 1998.Newsweek, June 1, 1998; January 25, 1999.New York Times, February 26, 2002, p. A13.Philadelphia Inquirer, May 29, 1998.Time, June 1, 1998.Time International, August 3, 1998. Makka, A. Makmur, B.J. Habibie: His Life and Career, http://habibie.ristek.go.id/english/ (March 25, 1999). |