Even though he was already in a deep coma, I would like to think that he could still hear me telling him that, if he had to go, he should go in peace knowing that we would still be here to continue his work.

And his work was truly significant. Hadi Soesastro’s tremendous legacy of an active and vibrant Indonesia, both within the Asia-Pacific region and globally, is a footprint that should never be diminished. It is beholden upon us to realise his legacy so that the marks that he left behind are not merely washed away by the next tide.

In writing this piece I began to think about the length of time I had known Hadi Soesastro. As I began to piece together the three different stages of our friendship, I realised that there was a common thread that underpinned all three.

My first recollection of meeting Hadi Soesastro was as a sulking 15 year old teenager accompanying my parents to Bali for a CSIS seminar in 1972. I have a strong recollection of an animated discussion with ‘Om Mingkie’ (Uncle Mingkie) on the beach outside Sanur Beach Hotel. At the time I was sulking because I did not want to hang around with a bunch of boring adults, and upon meeting Om Mingkie, I remember thinking that perhaps some adults were not so bad after all. Om Mingkie would have been a youthful 27 at that time, but was already an intellectual force as one of the founding members of CSIS.

A few years later, when I was an economics student, my father ‘encouraged’ me to go to CSIS for my holiday work. This brought about the second stage of my interaction with Hadi Soesastro. I loved to go to CSIS because of the library and the computer room (computers were still a novelty then!). But most of all, I loved my visits there because of Om Mingkie with his powerful intellect and kindness. Despite his rarefied position within CSIS, Om Mingkie always had the time of day to talk to this student who pretended she knew a lot of economics.  This tradition of welcoming students and young researchers was, and remains, a hallmark of CSIS culture. Many renowned scholars and interns found their way to CSIS, sometimes staying in those famous fifth floor apartments.

The final stage of my relationship with Hadi Soesastro began when I joined CSIS. At this time, our relationship evolved and deepened. I was first a member of Hadi’s staff, then a colleague, and ultimately, he became an inseparable part of my life.

It is worth discussing the influence of Hadi Soesastro upon CSIS and the Asia-Pacific region in detail.

My late father, who died one week after I returned home with my Ph.D, had spent his last few days telling everyone that he expected that I would work in CSIS and asking everyone there to take care of me. When I joined CSIS several weeks after he passed away as a staff member of the Department of Economics, I found an intellectual and egalitarian work environment. At the center was Hadi Soesastro. His visionary thinking created an open and intellectually stimulating place that was a heaven for independent minded thinkers and researchers. There was a sense of equality and tremendous camaraderie that made CSIS an irreplaceable place to grow as a scholar and person.

Through his work at CSIS, Hadi Soesastro was involved in most of the important strategies that shaped the evolving regional architecture of the Asia-Pacific. He was present from the beginning of the evolution of the Asia Pacific vision in the early 1980s and what became APEC in 1989, and oversaw the birth of deeper cooperation in ASEAN and its evolution, including contributing to the creation of the ASEAN Community vision. More recently, his leadership was felt strongly in the region’s navigation of various crises, and he was crucial in fostering the post-crisis emergence of East Asia as the world’s highest growth region.

Simply put, Hadi Soesastro’s footprints are everywhere in the architecture of the Asia-Pacific. Most recently, at a time when he was undergoing treatment, he urged the formation of new regional arrangements, arguing that;

‘Asia looms large in the new global economic (and political) reality… resolving global challenges (economic, political, social, human security and environmental) in the 21^st century will require strong international norms, rules and cooperation as well as effective regional mechanisms for implementation and action. ….this suggests the importance of re-examining Asia’s regional institutional architecture.’

Personally, I could not have wished for a better ‘boss,’ although his humility drove him always to correct me when I introduced him as such. Not only did he provide an intellectual example and sense of vision, he was always looking out for me, and was always there for important occasions.  Checking out (and nodding with approval at) my husband to be; arranging for my wedding party (including the décor, the church and the wedding dress); coming to visit me in Malaysia close to the birth of Raymond my first son and his god son; bringing little presents (especially books) for my children; and reassuring me when, ten years after joining CSIS, I was asked to take over from him as Executive Director. He was always sending through messages of concern – and his advice was indispensable whether it related to public or personal matters.

So what is the common thread that I have found in the three stages of having the privilege of Hadi Soesastro being part of my life? Simple – he was an extraordinarily decent and brilliant man.

I can only close with a quote from his Christmas letter to friends, where he explained the alternative treatment he was undergoing;

‘Christmas 2009 is meant to be one that changes the way I view life. …And yet, I see no reason why this Christmas is not a cause for celebration. There is something important about the notion of these two simple words, ‘to be’ (existence, life, relations to nature and the higher order of things) that I am learning from the experience of trying to deal with an illness. And, I want to share this with you…Please join me in lighting a candle to life and all there is to it.’

Mari Pangestu is the current Minister of Trade of Indonesia.