Description
Professor Doctor Ingenieur Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie better known as B.J. Habibie and his close friends call him Rudy, was born on June 25, 1936, in Pare-pare, South Sulawesi. The fourth child in a family of eight of Alwi Abdul Jalil Habibie and R.A. Tuti Marini Puspowardojo, stayed only for one year at IIB. because in 1955 he was sent by his mother to study at the Rheinisch Westfรคlische Technische Hochschule Aachen, Germany.
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After he studied seriously for five years, B.J. Habibie earned his Diplom-Ingenieur with Cum laude at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Aircraft Design and Construction. Young B.J. Habibie, a very devout Moslem who always fasts every Monday and Thursday, in the end brilliantly earned his Doctor-Ingenieur at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Department of Aircraft Design and Construction with Summa Cum laude, in 1965.
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B.J. Habibie started his career in Germany by becoming the Head of Research and Development of Structure Analysis in the Hamburger Flugzeugbau Gmbh, Hamburg, Germany (1965-1969); Head of Method and Technology Division of Commercial and Military Transport Aircraft MBB Gmbh, Hamburg and Munich (1969-1973), Vice President and Technology Director MBB Gmbh, Hamburg and Munich (1973-1978). and Technology Senior Advisor to the MBB Board of Directors (1978). In 1977, he delivered his Professorship oration in Aircraft Construction at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).
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B.J. Habibie married dr. Hasrin Ainun Besari, the fourth daughter in a family of eight of Haj Mohammad Besari, on May 12, 1962. They are blessed with two sons, namely: Ilham Akbar and Thareq Kemal, who were born and raised in Germany. To the call of service to build the nation, B.J. Habibie returned home in 1974, when President Soeharto asked him to come back.
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Started his career at home as an Advisor to the Indonesian Government in Advanced Technology and Aircraft Technology, who is directly responsible to the President of the Republic of Indonesia (1974-1978). In 1978, he was appointed Minister of State for Research and Technology, concurrently Head of the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT). He maintained this job for five terms-of-office during the Development Cabinet until 1998.
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Before the Indonesian people held the General Election in 1997, Habibie informed his family and close associates that he was planning to retire after his term-of-office in the Sixth Development Cabinet expires.
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However, Man proposes, God disposes. Close to the holding of the 1998 General Session of MPR-RI, the name B.J. Habibie emerged, together with several other names, as Vice President candidates, but after the
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criteria for Vice President was set, ie, a person able to preserve the nation's unity and cohesion and is knowledgeable about science and technology, the name B.J. Habibie became the sole candidate. On March 11, 1998, MPR- RI elected and installed Prof. Dr.-Ing B.J. Habibie as the seventh Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia.
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In the meantime, the economic crisis that hit the Asian region engulfed Indonesia, and it led to a political crisis as well as a crisis of confidence. The crisis became more serious and the people were demanding a reform so that in the end, on May 21, 1998, President Soeharto announced his resignation. In conformity with article 8 of the 1945 Constitution, on the same day, at 9.10 a.m. West Indonesian Time, Prof. Dr.-Ing B.J. Habibie took the oath of office as President before the Chairman and members of the Supreme Court.
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Thus, a glimpse of B.J. Habibie, who has two grandchildren, and who, in the beginning was planning for his retirement, finally followed what history dictates to become the seventh Vice President and the third President of the Republic of Indonesia.
