Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie

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Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie (1998)

Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie (born June 25, 1936 in Pare-Pare on Sulawesi , Indonesia ; † September 11, 2019 in Jakarta ) was an Indonesian scientist and politician . In 1998 and 1999 he was President of Indonesia .

Life

Habibie was already known to the future President Suharto as a teenager . In 1954 he went to Germany on a scholarship and studied aerospace engineering at RWTH Aachen University, graduating in 1960 with a degree in engineering; he obtained his doctorate at the same point in 1965 with the distinction “summa cum laude”. He then moved to Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm , where he rose to Vice President (senior executive). In 1988 he became an honorary citizen of RWTH Aachen University.

After his return to Indonesia in 1974, he was appointed Minister of State for Research and Technology by Suharto in 1978 and initiated Indonesia's entry into various modern technologies. Habibie became Vice President on March 10, 1998, and the third President of Indonesia since independence on May 21, 1998 after Suharto's resignation.

Habibie began with reforms in order to convert the previous dictatorship into a democracy. Among other things, he allowed free trade unions and free elections and released political prisoners from prisons. With the decision to allow an independence referendum in East Timor within a year , Habibie surprised both his military and the international critics of the occupation of East Timor, which had lasted since 1975 and had killed almost a quarter of the population of the former Portuguese colony . To resolve the conflict, Australian Prime Minister John Howard had proposed that East Timor should initially be granted greater autonomy within Indonesia and later hold a referendum on the future. Habibie did not want to waste any further investments in East Timor in the event of an uncertain outcome and decided to quickly decide between autonomy and complete independence. There was optimism in his cabinet, as they misjudged the mood in East Timor and also hoped to influence the result in favor of Indonesia. In the run-up to the referendum, the Indonesian military began attempting to intimidate the population, including through violence. Habibie rejected requests from the international community to allow a UN protection force to enter East Timor. Security remained the responsibility of the Indonesian military. When it became clear that the August 30, 1999 election results clearly called for independence, the military launched Operation Donner, a retaliatory action that devastated the country, drove 250,000 East Timorese from their homes and killed 1,500 to 2,000 people. Only now did Habibie bow to international pressure and allow the dispatch of INTERFET , which pacified East Timor again. The country came under UN administration and became independent in 2002.

Habibie's democratic reforms did not increase his popularity among the population and Habibie had problems with the military even before the loss of East Timor. Army chief Wiranto threatened a coup d'etat two days before Habibie's decision to join a UN task force in this case. In the face of opposition, Habibie decided not to run for re-election as president. On October 20, he was succeeded by Abdurrahman Wahid , who continued the democratic reforms.

Habibie died in 2019 in an army hospital in Jakarta, where he was being treated for heart problems. Thousands of mourners lined the streets as the body was driven to the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery.

literature

  • Heinrich Seemann : Diary of a Revolution. Indonesia's Road to Democracy (1998–2000) . Bonn: Dietz 2016. Due to the personal connection between the author and Habibie, the diary paints a comprehensive picture of the former president.

Fonts (selection)

  • Contribution to the temperature stress of the orthotropic cantilever disc. Dissertation at RWTH Aachen University, November 25, 1965
  • Development of a calculation method to determine the crack propagation speed on shell structures made of A1 alloys and titanium. Hamburger Flugzeugbau GmbH, Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm GmbH, 1969
  • Development of a method for determining the crack propagation in shell structures. Hamburger Flugzeugbau GmbH, Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm GmbH, 1970
  • A calculation method for predicting the progress of cracks under any load and comparing them with corresponding test results. Lecture at the 4th annual conference of the DGLR on 11–13. October 1971 in Baden-Baden, Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm GmbH publishing house, 1971
  • BJ Habibie; B. Laschka (Ed.): Proceedings of the International Symposium on Aeronautical Science and Technology of Indonesia , Indonesian Aeronautical and Astronautical Institute; German Aerospace Society, 1986
  • Sophisticated Technologies. Taking root in developing countries. In: International Journal of Technology Management (IJTM). Vol. 5, No. 5, 1990, pp. 489-497
  • 517 days. Indonesia: Birth of a Democracy , With a foreword by Helmut Schmidt . Herbert Utz Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-8316-0888-1
  • Habibie and Ainun: “It's lucky that God exists”. Traces of love. PT. THC Mandiri, Jakarta 2011, ISBN 978-979-1255-17-2 , Universitas Verlag, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-8004-1512-0

Honors

literature

  • Indonesia: The trembling of the bamboo . In: Der Spiegel . No. 22 , 1998, pp. 136–140 ( online - report of his election).
  • Dietmar Hawranek: affairs: detour via Liechtenstein . In: Der Spiegel . No. 41 , 1999, p. 135–137 ( online report on Habibie's involvement in the bribery scandal and his relationship with Germany).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b Indonesia's ex-President Jusuf Habibie is dead. In: Deutsche Welle . September 11, 2019, accessed September 12, 2019 .
  2. Jump up ↑ John Braithwaite, Hilary Charlesworth, Adérito Soares : Networked Governance of Freedom and Tyranny: Peace in Timor-Leste . In: Reformasi and Referendum, 1998–1999 . Australian National University press, 2012, pp. 91–110 (English) JSTOR j.ctt24h2jz.14
  3. Kevin O'Rourke: Reformasi: The Struggle for Power in Post-Soeharto Indonesia . Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest 2002, ISBN 978-1-86508-754-2 (English, google.com ).
  4. Laura Chung: Touching farewell for the man who gave East Timor freedom. In: Sydney Morning Herald . September 12, 2019, accessed on September 13, 2019 .