His Excellency H. B. J. Habibie |
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3rd President of Indonesia | |
In office 21 May 1998 – 20 October 1999 |
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Vice President | none |
Preceded by | Suharto |
Succeeded by | Abdurrahman Wahid |
7th Vice President of Indonesia | |
In office 10 March 1998 – 21 May 1998 |
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President | Suharto |
Preceded by | Try Sutrisno |
Succeeded by | Megawati Sukarnoputri |
4th State Minister for Research and Technology of Indonesia | |
In office 29 March 1978 – 16 March 1998 |
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President | Suharto |
Preceded by | Soemitro Djojohadikoesoemo |
Succeeded by | Rahardi Ramelan |
Personal details | |
Born |
Parepare, South Sulawesi, Dutch East Indies |
25 June 1936
Political party | Golkar |
Spouse(s) | Hasri Ainun Besari, (m. 1962–2010, her death) |
Children | Ilham Akbar Habibie (b. 1963) Thareq Kemal Habibie (b. 1967) |
Alma mater |
Bandung Institute of Technology (Mechanical Engineering 1954) RWTH (B.E. 1955) RWTH (Ing. 1962) |
Occupation | Engineer, Aviation Industrialist, Politician |
Religion | Islam |
Signature |
Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie ( pronunciation ; born 25 June 1936) is an Indonesian engineer who was President of Indonesia from 1998 to 1999. He succeeded Suharto, who resigned in 1998. His presidency is seen as a transition to the post-Suharto era. Upon becoming president, he liberalized Indonesia's press and political party laws, and held an early democratic election in 1999, which resulted in the end of his presidency. His presidency was the third, and the shortest, after independence.
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. 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.