Ali Alatas

Ali Alatas ( ; 4 November 193211 December 2008 ) was an Indonesian diplomat of Ba 'Alawi sada descent, who served as the country's foreign minister from 1988 to 1999. He was Indonesia's longest serving foreign minister.

Education and early career

Alatas graduated from the Indonesian Foreign Service Academy in 1954 and earned a law degree from the University of Indonesia in 1956. Alatas joined the Indonesian foreign service in 1954 as a 22-year-old. His early career included stints in the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand and Embassy in Washington, DC. He was named Indonesia's ambassador to the UN, in Geneva from 1975 to 1978 and was also ambassador to the UN in New York from 1982 to 1988. In 1979, he was a strong contender for the powerful position of the director general for political affairs within the foreign ministry, which was regarded as the de facto deputy to the foreign minister in political affairs. Despite his feasibility for the position due to his age, Alatas was instead appointed as secretary to vice president Adam Malik.

As foreign minister and after He was Indonesia's Minister for Foreign Affairs from March 1988, serving three terms under the former Suharto administration and once under the Habibie administration in May 1998. He advocated regional cooperation and played a crucial role in drafting the ASEAN Charter and the Constitution of the 10-member grouping the Eminent Persons Group. He also brokered peace negotiations in several hot spots in Southeast Asia.

His most famous success was his role in helping to broker peace in Cambodia, in 1991, which ended the war with the Khmer Rouge. "Alatas brokered the historic 1991 peace settlement at the Paris International Conference to end the war with the Khmer Rouge, though he had to share some of the glory with France," The Guardian wrote, calling the settlement his "greatest triumph."

In 2003, Alatas was appointed as the United Nations special envoy to Burma. He arrived in Burma on 18 August 2005 for a three-day visit and sought the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Alatas served as chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council (Dewan Pertimbangan Presiden) in the Yudhoyono Administration.

Death On 11 December 2008, Alatas died at 7.30am, at the age of 76 of a heart attack at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, with his wife and his three daughters at his bedside. At the Indonesian Embassy in Sungai Hanching on 13 December, Lim Jock Seng, Brunei Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade II, signed a condolence book on behalf of the Bruneian government.

Honours National

Foreign honours