B. J. Habibie

Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie (25 June 1936 – 11 September 2019) was an Indonesian aeronautical engineer and statesman who served as the third president of Indonesia from 1998 to 1999. His short presidency was the doorway from the Suharto era to the democratic Reform era. ^{1 2}

Before entering government, Habibie built Indonesia's aircraft industry and led the project for the first Indonesian-designed passenger aircraft, which earned him the popular title "Father of Technology". ³

As president he liberalised the press and political party laws, held the East Timor referendum that led to that country's independence, and brought democratic elections forward by three years. ¹

Habibie was born in Parepare, South Sulawesi, to an agriculturist father of Bugis-Gorontalese descent and a Javanese noblewoman from Yogyakarta, the fourth of eight children. ^{1 3}

His father died when Habibie was fourteen years old. ¹

He went to the Netherlands to study aviation at Delft University of Technology, but the West New Guinea dispute between the Netherlands and Indonesia forced him to continue at RWTH Aachen University in Germany, where he took his engineering degree in 1960 and stayed on as a research assistant. ³

Habibie received his doctorate in aerospace engineering in 1965 with the grade of "very good", and declined offers of a professorship and of work from companies such as Boeing and Airbus in favour of Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm in Hamburg. ^{1 3}

At Hamburg he developed theories in thermodynamics, construction and aerodynamics known by his name — the Habibie Factor, the Habibie Theorem and the Habibie Method — and worked on the development of the Airbus A300B. ¹

In 1974 President Suharto recruited him back to Indonesia as part of his drive to industrialise the country, and two years later Habibie became chief executive of the state aircraft company that later took the name IPTN. ¹

In 1978 Habibie was appointed state minister of research and technology, a post he held for twenty years, overseeing ten state-owned strategic industries in shipbuilding, trains, steel, arms, communications and energy. ³

Under his leadership IPTN manufactured Puma helicopters and CASA aircraft, and in 1995 pioneered the N-250 Gatotkaca, the first passenger aircraft designed and built in Indonesia, although the project was a commercial failure. ¹

As minister he created scholarship programmes that sent thousands of Indonesian students to study science and engineering in the United States, Europe, Japan and other countries. ¹

In 1990 he was elected the first chairman of the Indonesian Association of Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI), a modernist Muslim organisation that gave him a political base linked to, but independent of, the Suharto administration. ^{3 4}

Habibie was elected vice president in March 1998, and only seventy-one days later, on 21 May 1998, Suharto resigned amid the Asian financial crisis and mass protests; Habibie succeeded him as president under the constitution. ¹

He formed the Development Reform Cabinet, asked his relatives to resign from government positions, ordered the release of political prisoners and promised early elections. ¹

In August 1999 a referendum in East Timor voted overwhelmingly for independence, ending the Indonesian occupation that had begun in 1975, although pro-Indonesian militias then killed and displaced large numbers of people before Habibie accepted a UN-mandated peacekeeping force. ¹

His government also forbade the official use of terms distinguishing indigenous from non-indigenous Indonesians, made the identity card sufficient proof of citizenship, and lifted restrictions on the teaching of Mandarin Chinese. ¹

His presidency lasted 517 days, and with his 71 days as vice president both remain the shortest in Indonesian history. ³

Habibie lost the support of the ruling Golkar party, and in October 1999 the People's Consultative Assembly rejected his accountability speech by 355 votes to 322; he withdrew his candidacy and was succeeded by Abdurrahman Wahid. ¹

After relinquishing the presidency he spent more time in Germany than in Indonesia, founded the Habibie Centre, an independent think tank, and served as a presidential adviser during the presidency of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. ¹

In 2006 he published "Decisive Moments: Indonesia's Long Road Towards Democracy", about the events of May 1998, in which he controversially accused Lieutenant General Prabowo Subianto, Suharto's son-in-law, of planning a coup against him. ¹

Habibie died on 11 September 2019 at the army hospital in Jakarta of heart failure; the government declared three days of national mourning, and he was buried at the Kalibata Heroes' Cemetery beside his wife. ^{4 2}

Habibie married Hasri Ainun Besari, a medical doctor, on 12 May 1962, and the marriage lasted until her death in 2010; they had two sons. ¹

After his wife's death he published "Habibie & Ainun", an account of their relationship, which was adapted into a successful film of the same name released in 2012. ¹

This section sets out positions as reported in the sources. It is not a verdict by the museum.

Supporters. His supporters present Habibie as the president who opened the door to Indonesian democracy: freeing the press and parties, ending the occupation of East Timor and advancing elections, all within seventeen turbulent months of transitional rule. ¹

Critics. Opponents inside and outside Golkar criticised his hesitation in pursuing Suharto for corruption, after a leaked telephone tape with the Attorney General suggested the investigation was for public appearances, and criticised him for leaving the military its seats in parliament and moving slowly on judicial reform. ¹

Habibie's name is carried by institutions and places in Indonesia and East Timor, among them a bridge in Dili named for him by the East Timorese government shortly after his death, a floating mosque in Parepare opened in 2022, and his Parepare house, converted into a presidential museum. ^{1 4}

In Indonesian memory he remains a double figure: the brilliant engineer who built a national aircraft industry, and the short-lived transitional politician whose decisions changed both his country and East Timor. ¹

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• Revisions of this article must be dated, and must name the source that changed each fact.