The 27-year-old who wants Indonesians to love their country again

Zachary Lee

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The 27-year-old who wants Indonesians to love their country again
The assistant director of 'Rudy Habibie' hopes the film can inspire the younger generation

JAKARTA, Indonesia – This 27-year-old is hoping to spark some nationalism in her home country. 

Sylvia Widjaja is the assistant director of Indonesian movie Rudy Habibie.

Asked about the idea behind the film, Widjaja said “I hope Indonesian people can trust our country again.”

Widjaja, who also plays a supporting role in the movie, said she wants the audience to “love our country again by watching the film.” 

She said that presently, many Indonesians don’t trust the country anymore, and choose to go abroad.

Widjaja said the movie’s protagonist, Habbie, loves Indonesia deeply – which she hopes will inspire the younger generation. 

Rudy Habibie is a movie based on the novel Rudy, written by Gina S. Noer. It is about Indonesia’s third president, Bacharuddin Jusuf (B.J.) Habibie. 

In the movie, Habibie is portrayed as having an obsession over airplanes. His dream is to build an airplane to unite Indonesia.

Shooting overseas

Rudy Habibie follows his schooling at the Rhein Westfalen Technology University, where he studied aircraft construction in Aachen, Germany, in 1955.

The crew went to Germany for 6 days for shooting.

“For hunting for location and meeting with locals organizations, it took us around 3 months. But we spent only 6 days to shoot,” Widjaja explained.

There were challenges however. Widjaja said the script was changed over 14 times.

This is not the first time former President Habibie’s story hits the big screen.

Back in 2012, Habibie & Ainun was released, a story about Habibie and his wife.

This movie became the only Indonesian box office hit.

Inspirational man

Widjaja said they wanted to make another movie of the former leader because he is inspirational.

“Many stories about Habibie are worth telling, so we want to tell his story from a different angle through this film,” Widjaja said.

She added that Habibie always thought about ways to improve the country and how young people could use technology in Indonesia.

“I met Habibie two times, and he was so energetic and very eager to share his story with us,” she said.

Widjaja said the movie’s English subtitles also aims to reach a wider, international audience.


Habibie himself has seen the movie, during his 80th birthday celebration.

“I feel like I was taken back 60 years, when I started studying aerospace engineering in Bandung, and later in Germany,” he told local media.

Rudy Habibie opened in theaters nationwide since June 30. – Rappler.com

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