Habibie, B. J.
(b. 1936), third president of the Republic of Indonesia. Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, known as B. J. Habibie, was born in Pare-Pare in southern Sulawesi (Celebes), Indonesia. The young Habibie has been described as a serious student and strongly religious. Raised in an orthodox Muslim family, he met the future president of Indonesia, Suharto (b. 1921), when the latter was posted to Sulawesi as an army officer. During this period, when Habibie was still a young child, his father passed away. Suharto is believed to have taken a personal interest in Habibie, and the two formed a bond that later led to Habibie's rise in Suharto's government when the latter became the president of the Republic of Indonesia.
B. J. Habibie did his high school diploma course in Java, at the prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology, and got his diploma in 1954. In 1960, he graduated with an engineering degree from the Aachen Institute of Technology in Germany. He received his doctorate in engineering in 1965 from the same institution, graduating summa cum laude.
After completing his education, Habibie worked as a specialized scientist at the Hamburger Flugzügbauin Germany, later known as the Messerchmitt-Bölkow-Blohm company (which had absorbed the company founded by Willy Messerschmitt [1898–1978], the designer of the Messerschmitt fighter aircraft that played so prominent a role in Hitler's Luftwaffe during World War II). Between 1969 and 1973, he headed the methods and technology division for commercial airplanes and military transport at this firm. He was called back to Indonesia in 1974 to develop strategies for achieving Indonesia's technological goals. The then president Suharto backed Habibie's strategy to enable Indonesia to compete technologically with the rest of the world by the end of the twentieth century.
President B. J. Habibie on 5 January 1999 shortly after withdrawing from the election for president. (AFP/CORBIS)Habibie headed several high-cost ventures supported by the Indonesian state, including the aircraft industry. In 1982, he became a member of the Indonesian parliament as a representative of the ruling party, Golkar. Between 1978 and 1998, he was the state minister of research and technology. In 1990, he became the chairman of the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI); some observers have viewed this as a political role that Suharto gave Habibie to counterbalance the power of the Indonesian armed forces. ICMI also served as an alternative power base to the army.
Habibie was made the seventh vice president of the Republic of Indonesia in March 1998, when the authoritarian president Suharto was fighting for his political survival in the aftermath of the economic crisis in Southeast Asia. In May 1998, Suharto decided to step down after thirty-two years in power. Habibie then assumed the post of president.
Habibie has been described as highly energetic, mercurial in temperament, and excitable, as well as dismissive of criticism. His tenure as president, given the economic problems facing Indonesia, was troubled. In view of the voters' negative reaction to the ruling Golkar Party, which Habibie represented and which was blamed for the country's economic woes, it is not surprising that he lost his election bid in 1999. Habibie now lives in Germany.
Further Reading
Castle, James, Percival Manglano, and Richard Howard, eds. (1999) Who's Who in Indonesia's Political Arena: The Players, the Parties: A Comprehensive Guide. Jakarta, Indonesia: Castle.
Makmur Makka, A. (1995) B. J. Habibie—Kisah Hidup and Kariernya. Jakarta, Indonesia: Gema Insani.
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