Christianto Wibisono (10 April 1945 – 22 July 2021), also known as Oey Kian Kok () was a

Chinese Indonesian Chinese Indonesians (), or simply ''Orang Tionghoa'' or ''Tionghoa'', are Indonesians whose ancestors arrived from China at some stage in the last eight centuries. Chinese Indonesians are the fourth largest community of Overseas Chinese in th ...

business analyst A business analyst (BA) is a person who processes, interprets and documents business processes, products, services and software through analysis of data. The role of a business analyst is to ensure business efficiency increases through their kno ...

in Indonesia. His father was Oey Koan Gwee (Huang Guan-guo) and his mother was Lo Tjoan Nio (Luo Zhuan-niang).

Early life

Wibisono was born in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, and grew up in

Semarang Semarang (Javanese script, Javanese: , ''Kutha Semarang'') is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Netherlands, Dutch Dutch East Indies, colonial era, and is still an important regio ...

. He moved to

in 1964 to pursue a degree in

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

and

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

(Fakultas Hukum dan Ilmu Pengetahuan Kemasyarakatan) at the

University of Indonesia The University of Indonesia (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 Dutch East Indies when UI was established) ...

. On campus, he was active as an editor and writer for numerous publications from 1966 to 1970. In 1971, he co-founded Tempo weekly magazine but left it in 1973. He continued his study in social sciences (FISIP) at the University of Indonesia in 1974 and got his degree in 1978. As an activist in 1978, he strongly opposed the government's ban on

press freedom Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...

Career

Wibosono co-founded TEMPO, in 1970, immediately following his graduation from the Graduate School of Political Science at the University of Indonesia. From 1978 to 1983 he was appointed the Special Aide to the former Vice President of Indonesia,

Adam Malik Adam Malik Batubara (22 July 1917 – 5 September 1984) was an Indonesians, Indonesian politician, diplomat, and journalist, who served as the third vice president of Indonesia from 1978 until 1983, under President Suharto. Previously, he serv ...

. In 1980 he established the Indonesian Business Data Center, a leading

business consultant A business consultant (from Latin ''consultare'', "to discuss") is a professional who provides professional or expert advice or service in a particular area such as security ( electronic or physical), management, accountancy, law, human resource ...

and

data mining Data mining is the process of extracting and finding patterns in massive data sets involving methods at the intersection of machine learning, statistics, and database systems. Data mining is an interdisciplinary subfield of computer science and ...

firm, while writing columns in Indonesia's news media such as

Kompas ''Kompas'' () is an Indonesian national newspaper published in Jakarta, founded on 28 June 1965. It is published by PT Kompas Media Nusantara, which is part of Kompas Gramedia Group. The paper's head office is located at the Kompas Multimedia ...

and Suara Pembaruan among others. Wibisono is also the author the "The Imaginary Interview with Bung Karno" which discussed Indonesia's political regime in power throughout the nation's first and second presidential transition. In 1998, Wibisono and his family relocated to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, U.S.A, where he continuously monitored the development of Indonesia and regional

South East Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, and bridged the gap between the regions and

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill is a neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast and Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast quadrants. It is bounded by 14th Street SE & NE, F S ...

. During his stay in the US, he managed to gain an offer by former Indonesian president

Abdurrahman Wahid Abdurrahman Wahid ( ; né ad-Dakhil, 7 September 1940 – 30 December 2009), more colloquially known as Gus Dur (), was an Indonesian politician and Islam in Indonesia, Islamic Kyai, religious leader who served as the fourth president of Indone ...

; for a top cabinet position of Coordinating Minister of Economic Affairs in June 2001, which he then declined. He played a role in the establishment o
Global Nexus Institute
, a national

Think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

dedicated to materializing the goal of positioning Indonesia as the world's potential leading economy in the present global shift of power from the West to the East.

Death

Wibisono died in

on 22 July 2021, due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia The COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia is part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It was confirmed to have spread to I ...

Notes

External links

Christianto Wibisono profile
at Gramedia.com

at Business Week

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wibisono, Christianto 1945 births 2021 deaths Indonesian people of Chinese descent Indonesian expatriates in the United States Indonesian writers Indonesian activists People from Semarang Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia