June 6, 2026 | 10:39 am
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TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Away from the bustle of Jalan Sudirman and Jalan Thamrin in Jakarta, Czechoslovak historian Rudolf Mrázek drove toward the West Irian Liberation Monument at Lapangan Banteng. On that scorching afternoon in the early 1990s, the capital's roads were still relatively quiet. At an intersection near Jalan Pejambon, he turned left and arrived in a leafy neighborhood. Mrázek, then in his 50s, was on his way to meet a key source for his latest book on Sutan Sjahrir: Sumitro Djojohadikusumo.In his 70s, Sumitro was a retiree who had been out of government for more than a decade. When Mrazek arrived, Sumitro's secretary told him he was playing tennis-a sport he had enjoyed for the previous 13 years. After stepping down as Minister of Research in 1978, he had far more time to spend on the court.Sumitro eventually emerged wearing an all-white sporty T-shirt and shorts, casually swinging his racket. "He was always extremely pleasant," Mrázek, professor emeritus at the University of Michigan in the United States, told Tempo on February 5, 2026.For the father of Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo, however, retirement hardly seemed like a time for idleness. In the book Jejak Perlawanan Begawan Pejuang (The Resistance Journey of a Warrior Sage), Hendra Esmara wrote that the Indonesian economic sage quickly returned to his natural "pond": education. He taught at the University of Indonesia's Faculty of Economics and remained actively involved with the Institute for Economic and Social Research at Indonesia's oldest university.Read the Complete Story in Tempo English Magazine
