Former President B.J. Habibie Laid to Rest in State Funeral

The body of former President Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, who passed away at the age of 83 on Wednesday evening, was laid to rest in the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery in Pancoran, South Jakarta, on Thursday afternoon.

The funeral, led by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and attended by Vice President Jusuf Kalla, former presidents Megawati Sukarnoputri and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, ministers, high-ranking officials, foreign representatives, colleagues, family members and friends, started at 2 p.m. He was buried next to his wife, Hasri Ainun Besari, who passed away nine years ago. 

B.J. Habibie, as he was widely known, was born in Parepare, South Sulawesi, on June 25, 1936. He studied aviation engineering in Germany, where he later started his career. He returned home in the 1970s, at the request of then-President Suharto, to take up the role of chief executive of Nusantara Aircraft Industry (IPTN), a state-owned aviation company established during the New Order era.

He became a minister and later served as Suharto's deputy, before becoming president after the military strongman was forced to step down in 1998.

Habibie was widely respected, not only for his role as president, but also as Indonesia's "father of technology."