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View all search resultsReform-era economic minister Kwik Kian Gie dies at 90
Paramadina University rector Didik Rachbini praised Kwik as a courageous intellectual who upheld economic integrity and “played a major role in applying checks and balances to national policy.”
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Former Coordinating Economic Minister Kwik Kian Gie was widely respected for his integrity and sharp critiques of national economic policy. He remained a prominent voice in Indonesia’s reform movement throughout his life. (TEMPO/Usman Iskandar)
R
enowned economist and former coordinating minister during the early Reformation period, Kwik Kian Gie, died at the age of 90 on Monday.
He passed away around 10 p.m. at Medistra Hospital in Jakarta, according to senior Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Andreas Hugo Pareira, as reported by Kompas. His body is scheduled to be cremated on Thursday following a funeral service.
Born of Chinese-Indonesian descent in Pati, Central Java, on Jan. 11 1935, Kwik rose to prominence as an outspoken economic columnist before stepping into national politics.
After studying economics at the University of Indonesia and later in the Netherlands, he built a career in business and went on to found Institut Bisnis & Informatika Indonesia (IBII) in North Jakarta, now renamed the Kwik Kian Gie School of Business.
Kwik was best known for his integrity and candor.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, he was one of the few voices brave enough to publicly criticize the cronyism of Suharto’s New Order. His sharp economic commentaries in Kompas earned him a reputation as a fearless defender of transparency and justice.
“A great loss for us,” former finance minister Muhamad Chatib Basri wrote on his Instagram account on Tuesday.
