Kwik Kian Gie

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Kwik Kian Gie (traditional Chinese: 郭建義; simplified Chinese: 郭建义; pinyin: Guō Jiànyì) (born 11 January 1935 in Juwana, Central Java) was the Indonesian coordinating minister of economics and finance 1999-2000; minister of national development planning 2001-2004.

He is a prominent Chinese Indonesian economist who often wrote columns in the liberal newspaper KOMPAS criticizing the policies of the Suharto administration in the late 1980s and 1990s. Following a teaching post in the Economics department of the University of Indonesia, he was educated in the Nederlandsche Economische Hogeschool in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. After a few years working in the Netherlands following his graduation, he returned to Indonesia and held several executive positions and became an entrepreneur.

However, he maintained a strong interest in politics and education, and said to the press that, "I now have enough money to pay for anything I can wish for," and with that started his involvement with the PDI-P opposition political party of Megawati Sukarnoputri.

He also founded Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Ekonomi Institut Bisnis Indonesia (STIE IBI), a well-known business/management school in Indonesia, with his colleagues.

During the rise of Megawati Sukarnoputri, he was hailed to be the best candidate for the important post of coordinating minister of economics and finance, to which he was promoted by Abdurrahman Wahid. However, many political hurdles prevented him from making much progress during his posting, and he was later shuffled to become the minister of national development and planning. His tenure was seen as a failure due to the hype that he failed to live up to. He is known as an honest politician and economist, although his writings are sometimes considered controversial.

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