A key vote-winner for Golkar Party, Baramuli was involved in the 1999 Bank Bali scandal that contributed to Habibie's failure to win re-election.

Arnold Baramuli was born on 20 July 1930 in Pinrang, a traditional trading area in southern Sulawesi in the Dutch East Indies.

He was one of six children born to Julius Baramuli, a Protestant from Manado,[1] and Adolfina La Roempoeh (familiarly known as Ibu Pole), a Muslim woman of Bugis ethnicity.

[6] In Makassar, he investigated cases of alleged smuggling by “non-indigenous” entrepreneurs, who parked wealth abroad in Singapore and Hong Kong.

[7] The position gave him many business opportunities, but he later recounted he had to develop the new province with little budgetary assistance from the central government, and he found it challenging to provide monthly salaries for civil servants.

In 1965, when General Sumarno became home affairs minister, Baramuli was made head of the Board of Control of Regional Enterprises (Bappeda).

[9] After Amirmachmud became Minister of Home Affairs in 1969, Baramuli was brought to Jakarta as an expert staff in charge of state assets in the region.

In the early years of the Suharto regime, Baramuli served as head of the Home Affairs Ministry's economy and finance team from 1970 to 1973.

In February 1994, as a member of the national parliament's Commission VII, Baramuli exposed a banking fraud scandal involving tycoon Eddy Tansil.

[16] Baramuli declared the leak was an intelligence game and psychological operation planned by the military – at that time led by General Wiranto.

[17] In January 1999, a drunk man in Yapen Waropen regency of Irian Jaya allegedly struck at a member of the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI).

[18] After a delegation of Papuans met with Habibie on 26 February 1999 and requested independence from Indonesia, Baramuli became a strong proponent of a proposal to split Irian Jaya into separate provinces.

In Gowa, Baramuli distributed Rp206 million to mosque caretakers and provided funds to Golkar representatives at the village and district levels.

[21] Leaders of 21 rival political parties on 11 June 1999 demanded that Baramuli be brought to court on charges of vote buying and corruption.

They claimed that his presentation of “billions of rupiah” for the construction of places of worship in the name of Golkar was tantamount to bribery and money politics.

[22] In reports published in June and July 1999, Tempo magazine accused Baramuli of practicing “money politics” for Golkar in North Sulawesi.

The reports cited evidence that implicated Golkar and Baramuli's company, Poleko, in efforts to use money to win votes.

The Central Election Supervising Committee (Panwaspus) wanted Baramuli tried for alleged vote buying, but as head of the DPA he was not brought to trial.

[25] Student protesters demanded Habibie resign and also said Baramuli should step down from his position as Golkar's South Sulawesi representative in the MPR.

Baramuli formed and chaired the Irama Suka Nusantara (Outer Islanders) group of Golkar officials who campaigned for Habibie to be re-elected by the MPR in October 1999.

After Habibie withdrew from the race following the MPR's rejection of his accountability speech, Baramuli threw his weight behind Abdurrahman ‘Gus Dur’ Wahid, providing about 100 votes, in return for which he wanted representation for his faction in the new cabinet.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Antasari Azhar in 2003 claimed a lack of evidence prevented Baramuli and three others (Tanri Abeng, Erman Munzir and Setya Novanto) from being brought to trial.

Ventures included synthetic cotton, timber (on Buru island, with Filipino experts and a loan from Japan's Marubeni conglomerate), plywood, glue for wood and paper (in Surabaya), garments (in Bekasi), rattan, furniture, shrimps, cold storage, and a cocoa nut mill.

His son co-owned a controversial alcohol sticker company run by Suharto's grandson, Ari Haryo Wibowo.

Baramuli led Komnas HAM's delegation that in January 1994 investigated rights abuses in protests against the Nirwana Resort development at Tanah Lot in Bali's Tabanan regency.

With Baramuli heading the investigation team, Komnas HAM concluded the only violation of rights was the loss of work to laborers due to the delay to the project.

[41] Barmauli married Albertina Kaunang, the only daughter of the head of Manado District Court and the granddaughter of former judge and Volksraad member Leonard Dengah.

Albertina and Baramuli (who was familiarly known as 'Bung' Naldi) met in 1951 while studying law at the University of Indonesia and two years later decided to get married.

They had six children: boys Arly, Ardy (deceased) and Amir (also spelled Emir), and daughters Arnina, Resty Sulinda, and Aryanthi.

Among the prominent figures who visited his house to mourn him were Habibie, Harmoko, Jusuf Kalla, Ryaas Rasyid and Paska Suzetta.