Ashari Danudirdjo

Ashari Danudirdjo combined a military and ministerial career with interests in sailing and wildlife conservation. Born in Semarang in 1922, he represented Indonesia at the 1960 Rome Olympics, finishing twenty-sixth in the three person keelboat competition. A general in the Indonesian army, he held textile industry, trade, and industrial portfolios during the transition from Sukarno to Suharto. He subsequently served as secretary-general of the Foreign Ministry from 1972 to 1977. ^{1, 2, 3, 4}

Ashari presented his credentials to President Jimmy Carter on 15 February 1978. His Washington work included signing Indonesia's $30 million Rural Credit Project agreement with the International Development Association on 23 June that year. The program was intended to extend approximately 40,000 long term loans through Bank Rakyat Indonesia to smallholders in agriculture, livestock, and fisheries, while improving the bank's lending and staff training. ^{5, 6}

In June 1982 he inaugurated the modern office annex beside the embassy's Walsh mansion. The Architects Collaborative of Cambridge, Massachusetts, designed the annex as part of a diplomatic complex that retained the historic house. ⁷

After his ambassadorship, Ashari chaired the Indonesian zoo association from 1984 to 1996. The Environment Ministry credits him with promoting larger, open enclosures and helping develop the Komodo museum, bird park, and freshwater aquarium at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah as facilities for displaying and preserving Indonesian wildlife. He published the autobiography Antara tugas dan hobi in 1999 and died in Jakarta in April 2010. ^{8, 9, 1}