George Junus Aditjondro, Indonesian academic and political dissident, Died at 70

George Junus Aditjondro was born on May 27, 1946, in Pekalongan, Central Java and died on December 10, 2016.

He was an Indonesian sociologist.

He started his career as a journalist for Tempo Magazine.

From 1994 to 1995, George became widely known as a critic of President Suharto’s government over corruption and East Timor.

George left Indonesia for Australia for seven years and was banned by Soeharto’s regime in March 1998.

He became a sociology lecturer at the University of Newcastle.

Before that, Aditjondro taught at the Satya Wacana Christian University – Indonesia.

When he returned from Australia, Aditjondro wrote several controversial books.

During December 2009, at the launch of his book Dismantling Cikeas Octopus, Aditjondro was accused of assault against Ramadhan Pohan , a member of parliament from the Democratic Party.

The ex-president of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed his concerns regarding the contents of the book.

After which the book was taken off the shelves across the nation.

He died in Palu, Central Sulawesi.

George Junus Aditjondro passed away at 70 years old.