Ex-foreign minister Soenario buried in heroes ceremony

JAKARTA (JP): Former independence fighter and Indonesian foreign minister Soenario, who died Sunday, was buried at the Kalibata national heroes cemetery yesterday.

Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Alatas led the state funeral ceremony of the 94-year-old national figure.

Born on Aug. 28, 1902 in Madiun, East Java, Soenario is survived by five children, including his daughter Astrid Sutanto, a well-known communications expert at the University of Indonesia. His wife, Dina Maranta Pantouw, died three years ago.

During his lifetime, Soenario held several positions in government. Trained as a lawyer in the early years of independence, he was elected as a member of the National Committee of Central Indonesia in 1945. He served as foreign minister from 1953 to 1955. He headed an Indonesian delegation to the Asia-Africa Conference in April 1955 in Bandung. The conference was regarded as the pioneer of the Non-Aligned Movement.

He was appointed as ambassador to Britain from 1956 to 1961. He was one of the founding fathers of Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University in 1945. He was the first dean of the university's school of law.

President Soeharto appointed him as his advisor when Indonesia hosted the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Jakarta in 1991.

His body was laid to rest at Gedung Pancasila of the foreign ministry yesterday. President Soeharto and Vice President Try Sutrisno were present to pay their last respects.

Addressing the ceremony, Alatas said, "The Asia-Africa conference was recorded in golden ink as a historic inter-nation meeting to boost their joint forces in fighting against colonialism and imperialism."

"He (Soenario) made a great contribution to the ministry of foreign affairs, but he also suffered a lot during his service in this ministry," said Alatas.

Rahmi Hatta, wife of Indonesia's first vice president, the State Minister of National Development Planning/Chairman of the National Development Planning Board Ginandjar Kartasasmita, the deputy governor of the National Resilience Institute Juwono Sudarsono and State Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie also paid their last respects to Soenario. (06)