he Indonesian Biology Consortium (KOBI) has awarded late former first lady Kristiani Herawati, better known as Ani Yudhoyono, with the Biodiversity Award to honor her dedication to preserving the nation’s biodiversity.
The award was received by her family during the launch of the Indonesian Biodiversity Index Initiative (IBI) by the consortium at Bogor Botanical Garden, West Java, on Tuesday.
KOBI’s chairman Budi Setiadi Daryono said he remembered Ani ─ the wife of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ─ as someone who was fond of nature.
Prior to her death, Ani published two books on Indonesia’s biodiversity titled 3,500 Plant Species of The Botanic Gardens of Indonesia and Collection of Herbal Plants in Cipanas Palace.
The two publications led KOBI’s Honorary Council to give her an award for her dedication to cataloguing the nation’s diverse plant species.
“Even the scientists in KOBI have yet to be able to compile 3,500 plant species in Indonesia,” Budi said during the event.
Yudhoyono received the award on behalf of his late wife. The couple’s children, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, also attended the event.
The former president and Democratic Party chairman thanked KOBI for bestowing the award on Ani.
“I think she will be smiling and saying ‘thank you’ from up there,” Yudhoyono said upon receiving the award.
Ani passed away on June 1 in Singapore after battling blood cancer since February. She was 66. (dpk)
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