J

usuf Merukh was born on June 10 1934. He passed away at 7:15 p.m. on Wednesday, June 22, at the SOS Medical Health Clinic, in Jakarta. His death surprised the entire Merukh family, the Merukh Enterprises Group and his business network.

I received a text message on Wednesday that said: “Please pray for the speedy recovery of Pak Jusuf Merukh.” I responded with another text message: “We are praying for the recovery of Pak JM”. But after I sent the message, I got a bad feeling. When exiting the toll gate, I went to the SOS Medical Health Clinic where Pak JM was.

He died just before I arrived.

My last meeting with him was when we attended a Chinese New Year event in February at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Jakarta. At that event, he whispered to me: “Let your wife sit there and you sit down beside me and talk.” We talked for about two hours about various topics ranging from business and politics.

I have had deep impressions of Jusuf since early 1970s. At that time, as a civil servant, he was required to become a member of the Golkar Party. But he refused and resigned and became an activist of the Indonesian National Party (PNI).

Jusuf was a courageous, critical, and smart politician, He criticized many government policies, particularly those he believed were not in line with the Constitution and Pancasila.

Jusuf was a prominent figure representing a nationalist group. He was a critical of the fusion of dozens of political parties into three parties under the direction of Soeharto.

The first time I met Pak Jusuf, in 2001, he was accompanied by his sons, daughters and his inner circle. At that time, I was a secretary at the Eastern Indonesia Development Acceleration Ministry.

I recalled his expectations for the programs the ministry and the government might establish to develop Eastern Indonesia. After the first meeting, which was followed by many others, we talked often about politics and businesses.

Pak JM is that he is a nationalist figure. He celebrated every religious holiday, including Idul Fitri, Christmas, Imlek, Lunar New Year, Wasiak and the Hindu Day of Silence.

He always stressed the importance of Pancasila, unity in diversity and pluralism in Indonesia.

His motto was “think smarter, act faster”. He applied this motto to himself as a politician, as an entrepreneur, as a father and as a human being. He was a lucky man but always low profile and ready to assist people at various institutions.

H.A.R. Maklin,
Jakarta