page_title: B. J. Habibie
section_title: Career in Indonesia
hierarchical_section_title: B. J. Habibie / Career in Indonesia
caption_attribution_description: English: Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie as Golkar Board of Patron member during the 1997 campaign in Tanah Abang, Jakarta.
context_page_description: Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie was an Indonesian engineer and politician who was the third president of Indonesia from 1998 to 1999. Less than three months after his inauguration as the seventh vice president in March 1998, he succeeded Suharto who resigned after 31 years in office. His presidency is seen as a landmark and transition to the Reformation era. Upon becoming president, he liberalized Indonesia's press and political party laws, and held an early democratic election three years sooner than scheduled, which resulted in the end of his presidency. His 517-day presidency and 71-day vice presidency are the shortest in the country's history.
context_section_description: In 1974, Suharto recruited Habibie to return to Indonesia as part of his drive to industrialize and develop the country. Habibie initially served as a special assistant to Ibnu Sutowo, chief executive officer of the state oil company Pertamina and Chair of Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (Indonesian: Badan Pengkajian dan Penerapan Teknologi, BPPT). Two years later, Habibie was made CEO of the new state-owned enterprise Industri Pesawat Terbang Nurtanio (IPTN; Nurtanio Aircraft Industry), which in 1985 changed its name to Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (Nusantara Aircraft Industry; also abbreviated as IPTN) and is known as Indonesian Aerospace (PT. Dirgantara Indonesia) since 2000). In 1978, he was appointed as State Minister of Research and Technology (Indonesian: Menteri Negara Riset dan Teknologi, Menristek). He continued to play an important role in IPTN other "strategic" industries in this post. By the 1980s, IPTN had grown considerably, specializing in the manufacture of  helicopters and small passenger planes. Under Habibie's leadership, IPTN became a manufacturer of aircraft including Puma helicopters and CASA planes. It pioneered a small passenger airplane, the N-250 Gatotkaca, in 1995, but the project was a commercial failure. In developing Indonesia's aviation industry, he adopted an approach called "Begin at the End and End at the Beginning". In this method, elements such as basic research became the last things upon which to focus, whilst actual manufacturing of the planes was placed as the first objective.
  By 1991, Habibie oversaw ten state-owned industries including ship- and train-building, steel, arms, communications, and energy. A 1993 estimate determined that the estimates used nearly $2 billion a year in state funding, although the government's opaque accounting practices meant that the size of the industries was not completely known.
  As minister, Habibie created the OFP (Overseas Fellowship Program), STMDP (Science Technology and Manpower Development Program) and STAID (Science and Technology for Industrial Development). These three programs provided scholarships to thousands of high school graduates to earn their bachelor's degrees in the STEM fields and for other technical professionals to continue their study for master's and doctorate program in the United States, Europe, Japan, and other countries.
  Habibie was, continuously, a member of six Indonesian cabinets for over 20 years. After his initial appointment in 1978, he served in another five cabinets (including the Development Reform Cabinet which, as president he formed after the resignation of Suharto in May 1998):
  1978–1983: State Minister of Research and Technology and Chair of Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology in the Third Development Cabinet
  1983–1988: State Minister of Research and Technology and Chair of Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology in the Fourth Development Cabinet
  1988–1993: State Minister of Research and Technology and Chair of Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology in the Fifth Development Cabinet
  1993–1998: State Minister of Research and Technology and Chair of Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology in the Sixth Development Cabinet
  1998: Vice president in the Seventh Development Cabinet
  1998–1999: President in the Development Reform Cabinet
  In Suharto's regime, as was expected of senior government executives, Habibie became a member of the Golkar organisation. Suharto appointed him as deputy daily coordinator for the chairman of the executive board in 1992, and the following year he became the daily coordinator.
  While serving in cabinet, Habibie was also elected as the first Chair of the Indonesian Association of Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI) in 1990. This modernist Muslim organization provided him with a political base, linked to but independent of the Suharto administration.
caption: Habibie (center) campaigns for Golkar in 1997
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