Harbrinderjit Singh Dillon, an agricultural expert, political economist and human rights activist who held various government positions over the years, died in Kuta, Bali, on Monday at the age of 74.

Dillon passed away in Siloam Hospital in Kuta after falling ill about a month ago while on vacation in Bali.

“He passed away in peace. In his final days he was always accompanied by his beloved wife and we believe that he deliberately chose Bali, the Island of the Gods, as the place where he would leave this earth,” Dillon’s eldest son, Haryasetyaka Singh Dillon, said after the funeral on Tuesday.

Born in Medan, North Sumatra, in 1945, to Indian Sikh parents, Dillon obtained a bachelor’s degree in agricultural sociology-economics from the University of North Sumatra, before continuing his postgraduate studies at Cornell University in the United States.

Between 1983 and 1996, Dillon held various positions at the Agriculture Ministry, including coordinator of the Task Force on Agricultural Policy of Indonesia at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum from 1990 to 1996. He was also a senior adviser to the director general of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome in 1994.

Dillon was also involved in many human rights and anticorruption activities and was a commissioner of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) as well as a Joint Anticorruption Team member.

“Corruption is one of the main reasons that poverty levels remain high because corrupt officials not only steal money from the government, they steal from the people,” he told The Jakarta Post in an interview in 2015.

His service to the country was recognized with the awarding of the Bintang Jasa Pratama medal of merit in 2007 from then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the higher Bintang Mahaputra Utama medal in 2015 from President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

The body of the prominent agriculture pundit and human rights defender was cremated on Tuesday afternoon in Mumbul, Nusa Dua, following a military ceremony during which the family handed over the deceased’s body to the nation.

He is survived by wife Drupadi, his three sons Haryasetyaka, Mahawira and Mahareksha and two grandchildren.

“I would like to convey my gratitude to the President and the Indonesian Military commander for the assistance extended to us during this difficult time,” said Haryasetyaka during the ceremony.

The visibly grieving Haryasetyaka broke into tears at several points during the military ceremony, held at the funeral facility of the Udayana Army Hospital in Denpasar. His voice was shaky when he officially entrusted the body of his father to the honor guards. He later wept upon witnessing soldiers give a final salute to his late father.

The flag-draped casket bearing the deceased’s body was carried by six honor guards from three branches of the armed forces. In a slow procession, they carried the casket to an awaiting ambulance that was to take it to Mumbul crematorium some 30 kilometers away.

Udayana Military Command commander Maj. Gen. Benny Susianto presided over the ceremony, which was attended by scores of high-ranking military officers. The family intend to have the ashes of the deceased buried at Kalibata Heroes Cemetery in Jakarta at a later date.

“The deceased was a figure who cared about the promotion and protection of human rights,” said Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid.

“He never stopped thinking and always invited everyone to continue to think about the nation’s interests in a spirit of humanity that transcended the boundaries of ethnicity, religion, race and origin.”

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