Wanandi was a leading student activist during the 1965-66 in Indonesia when, over time, president Sukarno was removed from power and Soeharto became the second president of Indonesia. Later, in 1971, he was one of the founders of the well-known Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank in Jakarta and has continued to be active in the affairs of CSIS until the present. During the 1970s and 1980s he was an adviser to president Soeharto on political and international affairs although, towards the end of the 1980s, Soeharto became less interested in receiving advice from Wanandi and other specialists in the CSIS.