He pioneered the establishment of the Antara news agency in 1937, and was an active supporter of Indonesian independence, being put in prison for disobeying the Colonial Government's ban on political assemblies.

Following independence, he served in a number of government positions, including as a member of the People's Representative Council (DPR) and as the Minister for Trade.

In 1978, he was elected as the 3rd vice president of the Republic of Indonesia replacing Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX who unexpectedly stated that he was not willing to be nominated again.

As vice president, he criticized the government for its increasing feudalism-like structure and rampant corruption, referring it as an "epidemic."

He continued his education at the Sumatra Thawalib Islamic Boarding School Parabek in Bukittinggi, however he returned home to help his parents just a year and a half later.

Together with Soemanang, Sipahutar, Armin Pane, Abdul Hakim, and Pandu Kartawiguna, pioneered the establishment of the Antara news agency in 1937 based in JI.

Adam Malik also played an important role in the events leading up to Indonesia's declaration of independence.

On 16 August 1945, Adam Malik and other pro-independence youths kidnapped nationalist movement leaders Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta.

This organisation aimed to translate Sukarnoist ideas in a non-Communist sense and to use the name Sukarno to criticise the PKI.

Together with General Abdul Haris Nasution and Ruslan Abdulgani, Adam Malik was despised by the PKI for his anti-Communist stance.

As written by William Colby of the CIA's Far East division to the State Department's William Bundy : "Ambassador Green's December 2, 1965 endorsement of a 50 million rupiah covert payment to the "army-inspired but civilian-staffed action group [Kap-Gestapu]... still carrying burden of current repressive efforts targeted against PKI...." (pp. 379–380)".

American officials from the embassy in Jakarta passed lists of thousands of names of the PKI leadership to an aide of Malik's.

In 1966, Sukarno lost his executive powers as he passed them over to Lieutenant General Suharto through a Presidential decree known as Supersemar.

Malik, together with Suharto and Hamengkubuwono IX formed a triumvirate as they sought to reverse Sukarno's policies.

As Foreign Affairs Minister, Malik conducted trips to Western countries to reschedule debt payments.

Malik also quit the Murba Party that year to put himself more in line with the new regime's more open economic policies.

The Generals wanted Indonesia and its regional neighbours in ASEAN to have a closer security co-operation which in effect.

[13] Malik also adopted a softer stance towards the People's Republic of China, which the Suharto regime saw as supporters of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

These protests reached its peak in February 1978, when students of Bandung Technological Institute (ITB) published a book giving reasons as to why Suharto should not be elected president.

During his time as vice president, he liked to collect various items, ranging from ceramics, statues, and precious stones.

[16] However, his life as vice president was mainly uneventful, only playing an occasional role in inaugurating projects and opening seminars.

[19] Following the end of his term as vice president, Adam Malik moved to Bandung, West Java.