ANTARA :: Indonesia`s prominent economist Sjahrir passes away in Singapore

Sjahrir (63), a senior economist and an economic adviser in the Council of Presidential Advisers (Wantimpres), passed away in Singapore at 9 am local time on Monday.

His remains would be flown to Jakarta on Monday afternoon by SQ 966, Teuku Faizasyah, a spokesman of the foreign affairs ministry, said here on Monday.

Sjahrir had been treated at Mt. Elizabeth Hospital for advanced state of lung cancer, according to media report recently.

He was born in Kudus, Central Java, on the 24 February 1945. Sjahrir was married to Kartini Syahrir, a chairman of the Indonesian Anthropological Association.

As a student activist, he was once sentenced to jail during the Malari demonstration in 1974 for speaking out harshly against the regime of President Soeharto. The 1974 Malari demonstration was a major students demonstration against the government?s policy regarding the role of foreign investment in Indonesia.

Harvard-trained economist Sjahrir founded the New Indonesian Alliance Party (PIB) in 2002 and contested the general elections in 2004.