2 Quotes & Sayings By Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie
Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie (born on February 20, 1942) is an Indonesian politician and the third President of Indonesia, serving from 1998 to 2001. He was previously chair of Golkar, chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, and deputy president. Habibie was born in Sumatra and studied at Gadjah Mada University. After graduating in 1964 with a degree in political science, he moved to Jakarta and joined the Ulama group
In 1966 he helped found the Islamic political party Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). He was elected as NU's chairman in 1979, and again in 1984. In 1989, Habibie became chairman of Golkar (Indonesian: Partai Golongan Karya or People's Development Party), Indonesia's oldest and most successful political party. When Suharto resigned as President on May 20, 1998, he appointed Habibie as his successor.
Immediately after becoming president-elect on June 8, 1998, Habibie was sworn in as president by Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri on October 22, 1998. During his presidency, Habibie served as chair of both the United Nations Security Council and the IMF-World Bank annual meetings in 1999 and 2000 respectively. The first round of direct presidential elections were held on July 9, 1999 with a second round which he won by a landslide on July 21, 1999. For this achievement he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Mahathir Mohamad on October 12, 2000. In May 2001, Indonesia's Constitutional Court ruled that Habibie's presidency had been unconstitutional because he had not been elected through direct elections for a five-year term as required by Indonesia's 1945 constitution.
Former vice-president B. J. Habibie assumed the office of president from November 17, 2001 until May 21 of 2004 when a new president was elected through a direct vote of the people.
He currently serves as an advisor to Megawati Sukarnoputri on her campaign for presidency in 2004.