Jusfiq Hadjar was born in 1940 in West Sumatra, one of the most Islamised parts of Indonesia. He entered the University of Indonesia (Jakarta) in 1958 and in 1963 obtained a scholarship to complete his studies in French litterature.
?Like everyone my age at the time, I was a fervent nationalist? at the time, admiring then Indonesian President Sukarno.
In Europe, his views sharply changed as he learned of some of the atrocities committed by Sukarno through better access to information.
The new Indonesian President, General Suharto, visited Paris in the fall of 1972, and Hadjar joined a campaign to try to get hundreds of thousands of Indonesian political prisoners released.
He moved from France to the Netherlands at the end of 1972, and joined Kommitee Indonesië. In 1974 he and several others founded INDOC (the Documentation and Information center on Indonesia, now defunct).
In 1981, together with 40 other Indonesians in Europe he founded the Movement of Indonesian abroads for Human Rights and Democracy of which he is still an active member.
Members of this organization are continually harrassed by Indonesian embassy and consulate staff throughout Europe.
Hadjar went back to Indonesia in 1995 to attend the ?subversion? trial of Sri Bintang Pamungkas, a pro-democracy activist. He was arrested, interrogated, and expelled to Singapore.
He has opposed the invasion of East Timor since the beginning and supports the right of East Timorese to self determination.
He has testified many times before the United Nations Commission and the Subcommision on Human Rights on behald of different NGOs.
He lives in the Netherlands.
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