IHasri Ainun Habibie, the late wife of former President BJ Habibie, will be accorded a state funeral at Kalibata Heroes Cemetery in South Jakarta on Tuesday, a spokesman for the family has confirmed.
Ainun, 72, died of colon cancer in Munich on Saturday. Her body is expected to arrive in Indonesia early on Tuesday, Ahmad Watik Pratiknya, the family’s spokesman and executive director of the Habibie Center, told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday.
“If everything goes well, we expect that the funeral can be conducted on Tuesday evening," he said, adding that Ainun’s remains would be repatriated to Indonesia as soon as possible.
According to Ahmad, the body will first be taken to the Habibie family’s private residence in Patra Kuningan, South Jakarta, for religious observances before the funeral at Kalibata.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over the weekend expressed his deepest condolences to the Habibie family.
He said Ainun should receive a state funeral not only because she was a former first lady, but also because she had contributed significantly to the country with her tireless services.
Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said that Yudhoyono himself would lead the funeral at Kalibata.
Vice President Boediono also expressed his condolences to the Habibie family over the weekend. Julian said he was still coordinating with the vice president to organize the necessary arrangements for the funeral.
Ainun had been hospitalized at the Grosshadern Clinic at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich since late March. She had undergone a series of surgeries and other treatments for colon cancer over the past two months.
According to reports, Habibie had stayed by his wife’s side during her stay at the hospital. They had been married for 48 years and had two children.
Ilham Habibie, the Habibies’ eldest son, said in a message on his personal Twitter account that he and his family were still in Germany waiting for their flight to Indonesia and would arrive on Tuesday morning.
Ilham also advised mourners against sending flowers and instead asked for them to make donations in his mother’s name to the Orbit Foundation (YAAB Orbit), a private educational charity, and Aini Eye Hospital, both institutions that Ainun had been actively involved in.
Hasri Ainun Habibie was born Hasri Ainun Basari in Semarang on Aug. 11, 1937. She was the fourth of eight children of Muhammad Basari and his wife, Sudarmi.
Ainun graduated from the School of Medicine at the University of Indonesia in 1961 and soon after began working in the pediatrics section of state-owned Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Jakarta.
She married Habibie in May 1962 and they had two children, Ilham Akbar and Thareq Kemal, and four grandchildren.
During her life, Ainun was actively involved with the Orbit Foundation, a nongovernmental organization focusing on providing scholarships for bright students from poor backgrounds. She was also active in promoting eye health and was involved in promoting eye donor campaigns, working closely with the Aini Eye Hospital in Jakarta and other health-related foundations.
Despite avoiding the spotlight as much as possible, Ainun received several national service honors for her contributions to the country, including the Mahaputera Utama decoration in 1982, and the Mahaputra Adipurna and Mahaputra Adipradana in 1998.
Habibie became the country’s third president after Suharto stepped down in 1998.
Former President BJ Habibie and first lady Hasri Ainun Habibie in this file photo from 2005. Ibu Ainun has been hospitalized for almost a month.
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Last respect: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (right) places flowers arrangement on the grave of former first lady Hasri Ainun Habibie as third Indonesian President B.J. Habibie (second left, sits) looks on during the funeral service in Kalibata Heroes' Cemetery Park, South Jakarta, on Tuesday. Ainun died at a hospital in Munich, Germany, on Saturday last week, from an illness. Antara/Widodo S. Jusuf
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