I WAS born in Lahat, South Sumatra, on June 8, 1930, the second of seven siblings. My father, Baay Salim, the younger brother of Haji Agus Salim, worked at the Public Works Department. During my childhood, we often moved from one place to another, usually small towns as my father was in charge of irrigation and roadworks.

I studied economics since the war for independence. I was in the senior high school in Bogor, West Java that time. The Siliwa