Kwik Kian Gie (; born 11 January 1935) is an Indonesian economist and politician who served as the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs from 1999 to 2000, the Minister of National Development Planning from 2001 to 2004, as well as briefly serving as the Deputy Speakers of the People's Consultative Assembly in 1999. He is a prominent

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

who often wrote columns in the newspaper ''

KOMPAS ''Kompas'' () is an Indonesian national newspaper from Jakarta which was founded on 28 June 1965. The paper is published by PT Kompas Media Nusantara, which is a part of Kompas Gramedia Group. Its head office is located at the Kompas Multime ...

'' criticizing the policies of the

Suharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...

administration in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Early life

Following working in a teaching post in the Economics Department in the

University of Indonesia The University of Indonesia ( id, Universitas Indonesia, abbreviated as UI) is a public university in Depok, West Java and Salemba, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is one of the oldest tertiary-level educational institutions in Indonesia (known as the D ...

, he undertook further studies in the

Nederlandse Economische hogeschool Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humanist ...

(currently

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humani ...

) in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Career

After a few years working in the Netherlands following his graduation he returned to Indonesia and held several executive positions and became an

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

. He maintained a strong interest in

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

, and said to the press that, "I now have enough money to pay for anything I can wish for," and with that started his involvement with the

PDI-P The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle ( id, Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan, PDI-P) is an Indonesian political party, and the party of the current President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. The PDI-P was founded and is currently led by Me ...

opposition political party of Megawati Sukarnoputri. He also founded Institut Bisnis & Informatika Indonesia (IBII) which is now known as Kwik Kian Gie School of Business, a business/management school in Indonesia, with his colleagues.

Candidacy

During the rise of Megawati Sukarnoputri he was mentioned as a possible candidate for the important post of Coordinating Minister of Economics and Finance. He was appointed to the position by

Abdurrahman Wahid Abdurrahman Wahid ( ; born Abdurrahman ad-Dakhil; 7 September 1940 – 30 December 2009), though more colloquially known as Gus Dur (), was an Indonesian politician and Islamic religious leader who served as the 4th president of Indonesia, fr ...

in the Wahid Cabinet in October 1999. However, various political hurdles prevented him from making much progress during his term in office. He was later moved to the position of Minister of National Development and Planning. His period as minister was seen by some as a disappointment.

References

External links

Profile at TokohIndonesia.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwik, Kian Gie 1935 births Living people People from Pati Regency Indonesian people of Chinese descent Indonesian Hokkien people University of Indonesia faculty Indonesian politicians of Chinese descent Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle politicians Indonesian economists