I

ndonesia closed the year 2009 with sorrow since two leading figures from the worlds of politics and religious affairs died only a few hours apart from each other in the last days of the year.

Former minister, ambassador, politician and church activist Franciscus Xaverius Seda, known as Frans Seda, died on Dec. 31 at 5:15 a.m., several hours after the death of former fourth president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid.

A tearful Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the embattled Finance Minister, said she learnt a lot from Seda on managing the state economy.

"He was a person of high principle *who acted with* great responsibility," she said Friday at Seda's residence in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta.

Seda, an economist and businessman, died at the age of 83 at his home and will be buried at the reputed funeral home of San Diego Hills in Karawang, West Java on Saturday.

He will be given a military funeral with Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numbery scheduled to lead the ceremony.

Seda's remains will be at Atmajaya Catholic University on Saturday morning from 8 to 9 a.m. before being brought to Jakarta Cathedral for the Requiem mass, to be led by Jakarta archbishop Mgr. Julius Darmaatmadja.

Born in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, on Oct. 4, 1926, Frans Seda was finance minister at the beginning of the New Order administration from 1966 to 1968. Then, he was appointed by then president Soeharto as minister of communications and tourism from 1968 to 1973.

Under first president Sukarno he was plantations minister and chairman of the Indonesian Catholic Party from 1961 to 1968.

His elementary education was in Flores, followed by prestigious Dutch schools, MULO in Muntilan, and HBS in Surabaya. He continued his studies at the Katholieke Economische Hogeschool, Tilburg in the Netherlands, from where he graduated in 1956.

In education, he was known as the founder of the Economic Faculty of Atmajaya (1960-1964) and chairman of the Atmajaya Foundation.

Frans, though a polite and calm man, was also known for his critical opinions on government which instead of making him an enemy, made him friends with political leaders from Sukarno and Soeharto to Gus Dur and Megawati, under whom he served as economic adviser.

According to former state minister for development monitoring and environment minister Emil Salim, Frans played a vital role in opening up access between Western and Eastern Indonesia by opening up flights and shipping lanes between them.

At Seda's residence, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said while Seda was sometimes critical, "he also offered solutions and insights that inspired us all to develop *the country*."

Former president B.J. Habibie also paid his last respects as well as other noted figures such as Vice President Boediono and former Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor Miranda Swaray Goeltom.

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