Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie

Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie was born in Pare-Pare, South Sulawesi, to Alwi Abdul Jalil Habibie and R. A. Tuti Marini Puspowardojo. He studied at the Bandung Institute of Technology for one year. Although B.J. Habibie himself was born in South Sulawesi, B.J. Habibie's parents didn't come from this region. His father was an agriculturist from Gorontalo and his mother was a Javanese noblewoman from Yogyakarta, who met when both of them were studying in Bogor[1].

Habibie's father was descendant of Bugis migrants to Gorontalo that was employed by local rulers as soldiers to protect Gorontalo's coast from Maguindanao pirates. [2].

In 1950, when Habibie was fourteen, he became acquainted with Lieutenant Colonel Suharto. The future Indonesian President was then stationed in Makassar to put down a separatist rebellion and lived in a house across the road from the Habibie family's. Suharto quickly became a family friend. He was present during the death of Habibie's father and became an intermediary when one of his soldiers wanted to marry Habibie's sister [3].