Sumitro dies at 84 of heart failure

JAKARTA (JP): The father of modern Indonesian economics has passed away. Sumitro Djojohadikusumo died in Jakarta of heart failure late on Thursday night. He was 84. His death brings to a close a life that was both fruitful and eventful.

Sumitro was born in Kebumen, Central Java, on May 29, 1917, the eldest son in an aristocratic Javanese family. He spent his childhood in Java before moving to Europe, where he received his academic training, first at the prestigious Sorbonne University in Paris and later at Economische Hogeschool (the College of Economics) in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

He first won recognition as an economist at the age of 29, serving as an adviser to the Dutch delegation attending the United Nations Security Council meeting in London in 1946.

Returning home to Indonesia in March of that same year to take his place in the newly proclaimed Republic of Indonesia, he went on to serve a string of successive governments, first as an assistant to prime minister Sutan Sjahrir in 1946 and later as the deputy chief delegate representing Indonesia at the UN Security Council meeting at Lake Success in 1948.

After the country received international recognition in December 1949, Sumitro became charge d'affaires at the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, before becoming one of five experts assisting the UN secretary-general.

He served as minister of trade and industry (1950) and minister of finance (1952) under president Sukarno, and was a member of president Soeharto's advisory team in 1968. He served in several of Soeharto's Cabinets, as minister of trade in 1968 and minister of research and technology in 1973. He is also remembered as a founder and dean of the University of Indonesia's School of Economics.

Seemingly secure in his professional and academic careers, Sumitro's life was nevertheless often full of turmoil. Charges of corruption, though never proven, beleaguered him as a Cabinet minister in the 1950s, a time when the country was experimenting with parliamentary democracy and bitter political bickering was the order of the day.

During the latter part of the 1950s, he became involved in what is known as the PRRI-Permesta Affair, in which several disgruntled provinces in Sumatra and Sulawesi declared their independence from the central government in Jakarta. The movement was quickly crushed and Sumitro, with other backers of the movement, fled abroad.

Sumitro and other supporters of the movement rejected Sukarno's offer of pardon and safe return on the condition they repent and recognize Sukarno's leadership.

Eventually returning to Indonesia after the fall of the Sukarno regime in 1967, Sumitro carefully distanced himself from the banned and discredited Indonesian Socialist Party (PSI), of which he had been an important member. This reinforced the image of Sumitro as an opportunist, a label he had a difficult time shedding, at least in the eyes of some.

The marriage of his eldest son, Prabowo Subianto, a former chief of the Army's Special Force and the Army Strategic Reserves Command, to Titiek Hediati, a daughter of then president Soeharto, did little to dampen this view, even though some of his statements and criticisms of Soeharto's policies leave little doubt he remained true to his ideals to the end.

As an economist, Sumitro was a prolific writer and some of his works have become accepted as standard textbook material at universities throughout the country.

Though fate dictated that he should be embroiled in politics for much of his life, economics always remained at the center of Sumitro's interests. In that respect, it is difficult to find an Indonesian economist who can match Professor Sumitro in his dedication to his chosen profession and his desire to use his considerable knowledge for the good of the country. (hpr)