Loyal sidekick who chased a hi-tech dream

Mr Suharto may have departed yesterday, but his three-decade New Order rule lives on in the man he chose to succeed him, Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie.

Once a diplomatic in-joke, Mr Habibie's lifetime faith in Mr Suharto has paid off in the form of the presidency of the world's fourth largest country and one still loaded with natural resources.

As a young colonel in Ujungpandang, President Suharto took the teenaged Habibie under his family's wing to keep a promise to his dying father to look after him.

And by all accounts, Mr Habibie has emerged as a most unusual and intriguing man.

'He is a quite an extraordinary figure,' one senior diplomat said yesterday.

'The world stage now has a real character walking upon it.' In private they say Mr Habibie loves to talk about his grand hi-tech visions, but is not a famous listener.