DILI, 17 may 2024 (TATOLI) – The President of the Republic, Jose Ramos Horta, on thursday, awarded the Order of Timor-Leste to the Dewi Fortuna Anwar, in recognition of ther role as key adviser to the former Indonesian President BJ Habibie in resolving the 24-year Timor-Leste conflict.
Dewi Fortuna Anwar is the woman behind the late President B J Habibie who led Indonesia’s Reformasi movement after the fall of Soeharto in 1998.
“We honored Dewi Fortuna Anwar for her key role with President B J Habibie in pushing for a resolution of the Timor-Leste conflict through a UN-sponsored “popular consultation ” in 1999. An unlikely pro-democracy reformer, B J Habibie was never sufficiently recognized for his visionary and courageous role in seizing the moment when the 30-year-old Orde Baru collapsed in 1998 and forged ahead with democratic reforms. Of course, Habibie was not alone, Indonesian students and youth demanded democracy. Enlightened reformists, military leaders like Susilo Bangbang Yudhoyono, and others were pushing for reforms years before,” Horta said in a statement.
Horta said that for his role in the courageous break with the past, B J Habibie the key architect of the push for democracy and resolution of the Timor-Leste conflict, deserved the Nobel Peace Prize.
Dewi Fortuna Anwar is a Research Professor at the Research Center for Politics, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), which has incorporated the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). She is also the Chairman of the Habibie Center.
A member of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences, Prof Anwar is also the Vice Chair of The Habibie Center (THC) in Jakarta, after having served as Chair for THC’s Institute of Democracy and Human Rights.
Between 2010 and 2017, Prof Anwar served as Deputy Secretary for Political Affairs to Indonesian Vice President Boediono, and then as Deputy for Government Policy Support to Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
From 1998 to 1999, she also held the positions of Assistant to the Vice President for Global Affairs/International Relations and Assistant Minister/State Secretary for Foreign Affairs during the Habibie presidency.
Prof Anwar sits on the Boards of several organizations, including the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the Center for Information and Development Studies in Jakarta as well as the organization Shift and the Asia Society which are both based in New York.
Anwar obtained a BA and MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and a PhD in Politics from Monash University in Australia. Anwar joined the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogues’ board in 2019.
Journalist: Camilio de Sousa
Editor: Filomeno Martins
