Ex-foreign minister Soenario buried in heroes ceremony
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)