Junus Effendi Habibie

Junus Effendi Habibie
Born	11 June 1937 Pare-Pare
Died	12 March 2012 (aged 74) Central Jakarta
Nationality	Indonesian
Occupation	Diplomat

Junus Effendi Habibie (11 June 1937 – 12 March 2012) also known as Fanny Habibie^[1] was an Indonesian diplomat and younger brother of the third Indonesian President, B. J. Habibie.

Habibie was born in Pare-Pare as the fifth of eight children. In 1961 he graduated from the Naval Academy in Surabaya. During the New Order he served as director general for marine transportation.^[1]

In 1993 he was named Indonesian ambassador the United Kingdom, a position which he held until 1997. In 2006 he was named Indonesian ambassador to the Netherlands. In September 2010 he had an interview with Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad in which he made several remarks about the Party for Freedom and the people who voted for it, amongst others saying that those voters might be suffering from a "fear psychosis".^[2] His remarks led to questions in the Dutch parliament by Party for Freedom MPs Geert Wilders and Wim Kortenoeven. In the questions they asked whether Dutch Foreign Ministers Maxime Verhagen was willing to call Habibie over to the Foreign Ministry, Verhagen however did not wish to do so, citing that the remarks were made in freedom of speech and that Habibie had already retracted his words.^[3] Another incident occurred when Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono cancelled his planned visit to the Netherlands for October 2010. Indonesia decided to cancell after it received information that the President might be arrested due to a court complaint made by the government-in-exile of the Republic of South Maluku of human rights violations.^[4] Habibie's term as ambassador ended late 2010.

He died, aged 74, from heart problems at the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in Central Jakarta.^[1] He had had bypass surgery two times before.^[5]

References

1. "Brother of Former President BJ Habibie, Fanny Habibie, Dies at 74". Jakarta Globe. 12 March 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
2. Alexander Weissink (23 September 2010). "Interview ambassadeur: 'Ik wil niet dat mijn president hier als een clown wordt neergezet'" (in Dutch). Retrieved 13 August 2014.
3. "Kamerbrief inzake beantwoording vragen van de leden Wilders en Kortenoeven over de schandelijke uitlatingen van de Indonesische ambassadeur over PVV-leiders Wilders en de Nederlandse kiezers die op de PVV gestemd hebben" (in Dutch). Tweede Kamer. 30 September 2010. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
4. "'President Indonesië bang voor arrestatie in Nederland'" (in Dutch). Algemeen Dagblad. 5 October 2010. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
5. "Oud-ambassadeur Habibie overleden" (in Dutch). de Telegraaf. 12 March 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2014.