Jusuf Kalla - Early Life

Early Life

Jusuf Kalla was born on 15 May 1942 in Watampone, the capital of the Bone Regency in South Sulawesi. His parents were Hadji Kalla, a local businessman and Athirah, a woman who sold Buginese silk for a living. He was the second of 10 children.

After completing school, Kalla attended Hasanuddin University in Makassar. At university he became active in the Indonesian Student Action Front (KAMI), a student organization which supported General Suharto in his bid to gain power from president Sukarno. Kalla was elected as chair of South Sulawesi branch of KAMI. He showed interest in a political career, becoming a member of the Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD) and chairman of the Youth Division of Golkar when it was still organised under a Joint Secretariat (Sekretariat Bersama or Sekber) format.

Read more about this topic:  Jusuf Kalla

Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:

    The Americans never use the word peasant, because they have no idea of the class which that term denotes; the ignorance of more remote ages, the simplicity of rural life, and the rusticity of the villager have not been preserved among them; and they are alike unacquainted with the virtues, the vices, the coarse habits, and the simple graces of an early stage of civilization.
    Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)

    Franceska: I was happy in the life I built up for myself. I put a fine high wall of music around me and nothing could touch me. I was safe and secure. And then you had to come along and knock it all down and I hate you for that.
    Maxwell: On the contrary, you love me.
    Muriel Box (b. 1905)