JAKARTA: Former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas died of a heart attack in hospital in Singapore on Thursday aged 76, reports said.

"I have just contacted our embassy in Singapore and received the information that Alatas passed away at 7.30 am local time," Indonesian official Kamarullhah Halim was quoted as saying by the state-run Antara news agency.

A spokesman for Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the Detikcom news website that Dr Yudhoyono was "crushed" at the loss of one of the country's longest-serving diplomats.

Mr Alatas was born on November 4, 1932 in Jakarta, and graduated from the Academy for the Indonesian Foreign Service in 1954, and from the Faculty of Law at the University of Indonesia in 1956.

He served as foreign minister from 1988 until 1999, a year after the fall of Suharto's government which ruled Indonesia for more than three decades.

He was also Indonesian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva from 1975 to 1978 and New York from 1982 to 1988, according to the Antara state-run news agency.

In recent years he had been a UN special envoy tasked with drafting a report on development, security and human rights, and a member of the UN High Level Group on the Alliance of Civilisations.

He had also worked as an adviser to the Indonesian presidency since 2003.

Singapore's Foreign Affairs Ministry (MFA) says it is deeply saddened to hear of Mr Alatas' passing.

The ministry says the chairman of the Indonesian Presidential Advisory Council was a tireless promoter of ASEAN.

It added he played a crucial role in drafting the ASEAN Charter and was a well-respected statesman as well as a firm believer in regional cooperation.

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, Deputy Prime Ministers S Jayakumar and Wong Kan Seng, as well as Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo, had visited Mr Alatas when he was in hospital.

Mr Yeo, who is currently in Bali attending the Bali Democracy Forum, will travel to Jakarta later Thursday to pay his last respects to Mr Alatas. The minister will be joined by his wife, Mrs Jennifer Yeo.


- AFP/CNA/yt