Ali Alatas

Alatas graduated from the Indonesian Foreign Service Academy in 1954 and earned a law degree from the University of Indonesia in 1956. Alatas joined the Indonesian foreign service in 1954 as a 22-year-old. His early career included stints in the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand and Embassy in Washington, DC. He was named Indonesia's ambassador to the UN, in Geneva from 1975 to 1978 and was also ambassador to the UN in New York from 1982 to 1988. In 1979, he was a strong contender for the powerful position of the director general for political affairs within the foreign ministry, which was regarded as the de facto deputy to the foreign minister in political affairs. Despite his feasibility for the position due to his age, Alatas was instead appointed as secretary to vice president Adam Malik. ==As foreign minister and after==

He was Indonesia's Minister for Foreign Affairs from March 1988, serving three terms under the former Suharto administration and once under the Habibie administration in May 1998. He advocated regional cooperation and played a crucial role in drafting the ASEAN Charter and the Constitution of the 10-member grouping the Eminent Persons Group. He also brokered peace negotiations in several hot spots in Southeast Asia. His most famous success was his role in helping to broker peace in Cambodia, in 1991, which ended the war with the Khmer Rouge. "Alatas brokered the historic 1991 peace settlement at the Paris International Conference to end the war with the Khmer Rouge, though he had to share some of the glory with France," The Guardian wrote, calling the settlement his "greatest triumph." In 2003, Alatas was appointed as the United Nations special envoy to Burma. He arrived in Burma on 18 August 2005 for a three-day visit and sought the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. Alatas served as chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council (Dewan Pertimbangan Presiden) in the Yudhoyono Administration. ==Death==

On 11 December 2008, Alatas died at 7.30am, at the age of 76 of a heart attack at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, with his wife and his three daughters at his bedside. At the Indonesian Embassy in Sungai Hanching on 13 December, Lim Jock Seng, Brunei Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade II, signed a condolence book on behalf of the Bruneian government. ==Honours==

National • : • Star of the Republic of Indonesia (3rd Class) () • Star of Mahaputera (2nd Class) () • Star of Mahaputera (3rd Class) () Foreign honours • : • Honorary Officer (Civil Division) of the Order of Australia (AO) • : • Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver with Star of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria • : • Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Sahametrei • : • Commandeur of the National Order of the Legion of Honour • : • Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun • : • Grand Collar of the Order of Sikatuna, Rank of Raja (GCS) • : • Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant (GCE) • Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand (KGCT) • Knight Grand Cross (First Class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant (KCE) ==References==