Not knowing about his illness before, I had actually planned to invite him to the office for a get-together with some mutual friends to catch up and chat about current affairs, both domestic and international. 

Before the outbreak of COVID-19, we did this more often, and Sarwono always came. We always enjoyed his wealth of knowledge, his wit and his sense of humor. His sudden departure left a void as I remembered our friendship and our one-time partnership as board members of Golkar, where he served as secretary-general under the chairmanship of the late Lt. Gen. Sudharmono.

My friendship with Sarwono dated back to the mid-1960s when he was a student activist at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and I was a lecturer at the University of Indonesia Faculty of Law in Jakarta. Sarwono’s broad interests spanned politics, economics, the environment, youth, art, culture and international affairs.

In his retirement from public office, Sarwono had a particular interest in environmental issues, and he was highly respected by the current environment and forestry minister, Siti Nurbaya Bakar, to whom he offered his invaluable advice. Minister Siti Nurbaya visited Sarwono at the Penang Hospital on Friday, and he passed away shortly thereafter.

As a fellow Golkar board member, I had the chance to closely watch how Sarwono’s relationship with chairman Sudharmono blossomed at the same time his relationship with the late Gen. Benny Moerdani did. Interestingly, being a principled person, Sarwono managed to steer his position well between those two generals, who did not see eye-to-eye on certain national issues.

Following his time as Golkar’s secretary-general, Sarwono served as the environment minister in one of Soeharto’s cabinets and as the fisheries minister during the Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid administration. Sarwono was the second cabinet minister in the family, following in the footsteps of his brother, former foreign minister Mochtar Kusumaatmadja.

While Sarwono widened his circle of contacts and friendship over the years, he kept close touch with his colleagues and friends from his Bandung years, including the late Rachman Toleng, Djoko Sudyatmiko and Gareth Evans, the former Australian foreign minister. Indeed, Sarwono valued friendship dearly.

I, for one, am forever indebted to him for always generously trying his best to participate in conferences and seminars organized by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) as a speaker, both abroad and in Indonesia. It was really not easy amid his extremely busy schedule as minister.

Sadly, at the time of his departure, Sarwono had not finished writing his three-volume memoirs. The first book came out before the pandemic and was well received in many circles. It is a very rich book that covers his early life to his early career in public life. And he did not forget to mention my bird, which could sing several lines of the national anthem, “Indonesia Raya”.

Sarwono will be deeply missed by his family, his friends and colleagues, but his legacy as an honest and clean public official, his humility and his kindness will remain always in our memories.

Sarwono, rest in peace.

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The writer is vice chair of the board of trustees of the CSIS Foundation.