A. Hasnan Habib

Adnil Hasnan Habib came from Maninjau in West Sumatra and served as a young officer during Indonesia’s independence struggle. Much of his later military career involved education, planning, and organization. After training at Fort Benning, he helped develop infantry instruction in Cimahi and Bandung. He also studied in Yugoslavia and at the US Naval Postgraduate School, applying this experience to defense planning and staff work. ^{1, 2}

Before becoming ambassador, Habib carried messages through a confidential channel between Presidents Suharto and Richard Nixon. In May 1973 he met Brent Scowcroft in Washington as an aide to General Sumitro, explaining that Suharto wanted to preserve direct communication and avoid surprises. He delivered a presidential letter requesting further American naval assistance. The channel operated separately from the embassy’s normal leadership; Habib told Scowcroft that Ambassador Syarief Thayeb did not know of it. ³

Habib subsequently represented Indonesia in Thailand and at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. On taking up the Washington ambassadorship in 1982, he called for better access to American markets for Indonesian exports other than oil. His credentials remarks connected trade and investment measures with the need to sustain development during the international recession, while acknowledging disagreements over questions including the law of the sea and the Middle East. ^{2, 4}

After Washington he continued writing and speaking about security and military reform, and served as a roving envoy for the Non-Aligned Movement in the Americas in 1992–1995. He criticized the armed forces’ commercial activities and weak financial accountability while arguing for greater professionalism. He died in Jakarta in February 2006. ^{2, 1}