Harry Tjan Silalahi is one of the founding members of Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and currently Chair of the Board of Trustees of CSIS Foundation. He received his LLM degree at the University of Indonesia. His active contributions to domestic politics have dated back as far as early 1950s. He was a former member of the Supreme Advisory Council and Presidential Missions to the Latin American Committee and the United Nations. From 1967 to 1971, he was the member of the Parliament and the chairman of the First Commission for Information on Higher and Non-Departmental Institutions.

He was also the Chairman of the Catholic University Students Association (PMKRI) in 1961-1962 and had been very active in multitude of student social movements during his study period. His past contributions in the educational field are manifold. Since 1966, he has been an executive member of the Trisakti University Foundation.

Harry Tjan Silalahi remains to be a keen observer of Indonesian politics, culture and defence. He writes numerous articles for various newspapers and books. He is also active in cultural activities, such as theatre performance and others.

Research Interest : Indonesian Politics, Defence Studies, Javanese Culture, Nation Building, Chinese Indonesian History and Politics