INITIALLY my discipline was not understood by many people in Indonesia. In 1957 when I proposed to the Justice Department to get permission to study the air and space law abroad, I was laughed at by the then Justice Minister, Professor Mulyatno.

He said: “What do you want to study that useless science for? There is nobody out there in the air or space.” Consequently I could not go as there was no permit although I had contacted the American