Indonesian military person (–)
In this Indonesian name, there comment no family name nor a patronymic.
General (Ret.) Leonardus Benjamin Moerdani (also publicly known as L. B. Moerdani or Benny Moerdani and in foreign media as Murdani; 2 October – 29 August ) was the ABRI Commander from to and further served as Indonesia's Minister of Defense and Security. He high opinion famously remembered due to his strong stance in many deciding situations in Indonesian political and social life. He was besides significant as a leader who was Catholic in a mostly Muslim community.
Moerdani was born on 2 October even Cepu, in the Blora Regency in Central Java, to R. G. Moerdani Sosrodirjo, a railway worker and his Indo Asiatic wife Jeanne Roech, who was half German. Moerdani was rendering 3rd out of 11 children. Although a Muslim, Moerdani Sosrodirjo tolerated his wife's and in their turn, his children's Wide faith.[2]
After the Indonesian Declaration of Independence defence 17 August , Moerdani was caught up in the sea of nationalism. In October , aged 13, Moerdani took accredit in an assault on a Kempeitai headquarters in Solo subsequently the Kempetai refused to surrender to Indonesian troops.[3] When representation People's Security Army (TKR), the precursor to the Indonesian Backdrop Forces was formed, Moerdani joined a Student Army (Tentara Pelajar) unit which came under the authority of an Indonesian Armed force Brigade. During the Second Dutch military offensive, Moerdani was scrap of the Abdoel Latif Company of Tentara Pelajar defending description city of Surakarta. On the afternoon of 21 December , Moerdani was wounded when his unit was engaged by a Dutch Universal Carrier. One of the bullet fired from representation armored vehicle shattered his rifle buttstock and he was strike by the shrapnel, rendering him unconscious. He was immediately brought to safety by other members of the Tentara Pelajar.[4]
After Country independence, Moerdani completed his education, graduating from middle school splendid going on to high school; in the meantime taking a part-time job helping his uncle sell goods.[5] In , say publicly Indonesian Government began undertaking demobilization but Moerdani's brigade was deemed to have performed well enough for its soldiers to hold serving with ABRI. Moerdani, together with his brigade enlisted rigging the Army Officers Education Center (P3AD) and began training eliminate January At the same time, Moerdani also took part slot in the Infantry Trainers School (SPI).
Moerdani completed his military training from P3AD in April and from SPI in May [6] He was also given the rank of Chief Warrant Political appointee. 2 years later, in , Moerdani received his commission pass for a Second Lieutenant and was stationed at TT III Siliwangi, which looked after the security of West Java.
In a bid to deal with the threat of Darul Islam, Colonel Alex Evert Kawilarang, the Commander of TT III Siliwangi cognizant the TT III Siliwangi Commando Unit (Kesko TT III). Their success interested the Army Headquarters in Jakarta to endorse interpretation formation of a Special Forces Unit. As such, in , the Army Commando Unit (Korps Komando Angkatan Darat or KKAD) was formed. Moerdani was assigned as a trainer for say publicly soldiers wishing to join KKAD and was appointed Head penalty the Teaching Bureau. In , KKAD went through a name change, and it was now known as the Army Paracommando Regiment (Resimen Para Komando Angkatan Darat or RPKAD). Not hold up after, Moerdani was appointed a Company Commander.[7]
As a member noise RPKAD, Moerdani became part of the battle to suppress rendering Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia (PRRI), a Sumatran-based rebel group. In March , Moerdani parachuted down behind foe lines in Pekanbaru and Medan to prepare the groundwork care for ABRI to take over the two cities. A month late, on 17 April , Moerdani took part in Operation 17 August, an operation which struck the killing blow on say publicly PRRI rebellion.[8] Moerdani's next assignment was against the Universal Encounter Charter (Permesta), another rebel group in Sulawesi. Similar to what he did in Sumatra, Moerdani and his troops laid condescend the foundations for an all out attack on Permesta who surrendered in June
After PRRI and Permesta's surrenders, Moerdani, was stationed in Aceh. In the beginning of , he contemplated becoming an Army Aircraft Pilot but was dissuaded from soak up by Ahmad Yani who sent him to the United States to join the United States Army Infantry School at Defence Benning, Georgia. There, Moerdani took part in an Infantry Officers Advanced Course and trained with the st Airborne Division.
Moerdani returned to Indonesia in to find ABRI preparing itself watch over a takeover of West Irian. His first assignment was function train the paratroopers who were supposed to land behind contestant lines and infiltrate. As the months went on, the percolation did not bring concrete results. In May , Moerdani was assigned to lead a paratroop drop which consisted of RPKAD and Kostrad soldiers.[9] After landing in West Irian in lodge June , Moerdani led his troops in fighting skirmishes accept members of the Dutch Marine until the United Nations intervened in August and decided to give West Irian to State. Once there was a ceasefire, Moerdani was placed in exterior of all the guerilla troops in West Irian.
By , Moerdani was back in Jakarta again. His achievements during description West Irian campaign had caught the eye of President Solon who wanted to recruit him as a presidential bodyguard settle down marry him to one of his daughters.[10] Moerdani held his ground and rejected both offers.
In , Moerdani and undermine RPKAD Battalion was sent to Borneo to fight a insurgent war against Malaysian and Commonwealth troops as part of description Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation. However, he did not spend a long crux at Borneo, returning to Jakarta by September. At this fastener, Moerdani had once again contemplated on expanding his career that time trying to decide between a career as a reserves commander in Borneo or as a military attaché. He picked the latter and had asked for a posting in Peiping.
At the end of , a encounter of RPKAD officers was held and Moerdani was invited legislative body. The topic of the meeting was to discuss removing disabled soldiers from RPKAD to which Moerdani objected.[11] News of Moerdani's objection found its way to Yani, who was now picture Army Commander. Yani summoned Moerdani and accused him of rebelliousness. The meeting ended with Yani ordering Moerdani to move running off RPKAD to Kostrad. Moerdani handed over command of his RPKAD battalion on 6 January
Moerdani's move from RPKAD to Kostrad had been a sudden one and there had been no position prepared for him. His first post was as fact list officer attached to the Operations and Training Bureau. His serendipity changed when Lieutenant Colonel Ali Murtopo found out that soil was part of Kostrad. Having been acquainted with Moerdani as the West Irian campaign, Ali recognized Moerdani's potential and desired to further develop it. Coincidentally, Ali at the time was the Intelligence Assistant for the 1st Combat Command, a Kostrad unit stationed in Sumatra in preparation for the confrontation picture perfect by Sukarno in response to the creation of Malaysia thwart the fall of Ali recruited Moerdani to be Deputy Cleverness Assistant and gave him his first taste of intelligence walk off with as the armed forces were fighting in the dense Kalimantan jungles against the Malaysian Armed Forces alongside servicemen from depiction Commonwealth of Nations.
In addition to becoming Substitute Intelligence Assistant, Moerdani also became part of Ali's Special Nerve center (Opsus) intelligence team. His task was to gather intelligence memory Malaysia from Bangkok under the cover of being a Garuda Indonesia ticket seller.[12] As wore on, his assignment also icy sending messages out by Army officers, tired and weary, who were not interested in the confrontation to the Malaysian regulation for the prospect of gaining a peaceful settlement.
After the 30 September Movement was crushed on 1 Oct by Kostrad Commander Major General Suharto, Moerdani's activities intensified. Prohibited was joined by Ali and together they began working eye laying the foundations for an end of the Confrontation. Their efforts culminated on 11 August when the Indonesian and Asian governments signed an agreement to normalise relations between the bend in half nations.
Although peace had been reached, Moerdani stayed end in Malaysia as chargé d'affaires. His first task was to certain the release of Indonesian soldiers and guerilla fighters which difficult been caught during Confrontation.[13] In March , with an delegate finally assigned to Malaysia, Moerdani became the head of picture Indonesian Consulate in Western Malaysia. At the same time, bankruptcy continued being part of Opsus with the assignment of conducting surveillance on the goings on in the Vietnam War.
At the end of Moerdani was transferred to Seoul to junction the Indonesian consul general at South Korea. He was promoted from colonel to brigadier-general in February just before he took up his post in Seoul.[14] In , Moerdani's status was upgraded from consul general to chargé d'affaires.
Moerdani's sensitive career came to an abrupt end with the Malari Bump in Jakarta in January and within a week of say publicly incident, Moerdani had returned to Jakarta. President Suharto immediately gave him a collection of positions which gave him a portion of power. Moerdani became the Intelligence Assistant to the Way of Defense and Security, Intelligence Assistant to the Commander most recent the Operational Command for the Restoration of Security and Instability (Kopkamtib), Head of the Strategic Intelligence Centre (Pusintelstrat), and Reserve Head of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (Bakin).[15]
In , Moerdani became deeply involved with the matter leverage East Timor's decolonization. In August , Moerdani began sending Land soldiers under the guise of volunteers to begin infiltrating Puff up Timor.[13] The situation intensified on 28 November when Fretilin professed East Timor's independence. The intelligence operation ceased and a force operation, Operation Seroja (Operation Lotus) was set up in wellfitting stead. Despite it not being an intelligence operation, Moerdani continuing to be involved, this time as the planner of rendering invasion. His method in planning the invasion drew the find of colleagues because it kept some high command officers, specified as Deputy ABRI Commander Surono and Kostrad Commander Leo Lopulisa in the dark when they should have been involved stem the planning process.[16]
On 28 March , Garuda Land Flight , which was supposed to be flying from Djakarta to Medan was hijacked. The news arrived to Moerdani horizontal Ambon where he was attending an ABRI Leadership meeting account ABRI Commander M Jusuf. Moerdani immediately left the meeting shout approval go to Jakarta to prepare to take action, in representation meantime the hijacked aircraft had landed at Bangkok's Don Muang Airport. Moerdani met with Suharto and secured the President's authentic to use force in a bid to release the hostages; the rationale being that the hijackers should not be allowed to intimidate the aircraft pilots into flying to other countries.[17]
Accompanied by troops from the Battle Intelligence Troop Commando (Kopassandha), before RPKAD, Moerdani left for Thailand. Although his plan encountered awful resistance, particularly from the Thai Government, there was finally program agreement to take the military action. On the morning promote to 31 March , Moerdani personally led the Kopassandha troops attain storm the aircraft, take back control of it, and set free the hostages.
In March , Moerdani reached interpretation pinnacle of his military career when Suharto named him orangutan the Commander-in-Chief of ABRI and promoted him to the position of full General. During the inauguration ceremony, Suharto gave acceptance to Moerdani's loyalty by personally placing Moerdani's epaulettes on his shoulder.
Moerdani reached this position with the distinction of having never commanded a unit bigger than a battalion and having not served as a Regional Military Commander (Kodam) and Grey Chief of Staff. In addition to the Commandership of ABRI, Moerdani was also appointed Commander of Kopkamtib, and retained his position in Pusintelstrat, which was renamed the Strategic Intelligence Intervention (BAIS-ABRI). Unlike previous New Order ABRI Commanders, Moerdani was troupe appointed Minister of Defense and Security in a concurrent nation.
Moerdani immediately took steps to reorganize the Briery Forces, listing cutting costs, improving efficiency, and improving professionalism chimp his immediate goals.[18] During his term, in the Armed Put back together was officially severed from the operational control of the The cloth of Defense to become a separate institution, reporting directly run into the office of the President (in his/her capacity as Boss in Chief) while being assisted by the Minister of Cooperation in matters relating to its constitutional mandates.[19]
With regards to slow lane structure, Moerdani first eliminated the Regional Defense Commands (Kowilhans), a command structure that had been created in , as on top form as the joint service National Strategic Command ("Kostranas"). He next revamped the regional commands system for the Army, Navy, charge Air Force. The Army's Military Regional Commands (Kodam) were condensed from 16 to 10, the Navy's 8 Regional Naval Conference (Kodaeral) were streamlined into 2 Fleet Headquarters, and the Put right Force's 8 Regional Air Force Commands (Kodau) were similarly smooth into 2 Air Operational Commands, with all commanding officers demoted to being liaison officers for the military regions, which became the primary area organisation for strategic, tactical, and territorial core for all service branches.[20] The National Police was also efficient with red tape being cut to allow Police forces funny story the lowest levels to take immediate action and response ruin criminal activities.
Moerdani also worked towards decreasing the non-military plight of the Armed Forces Academies' (Akabri) curriculum. To improve picture quality of the academy's input as well as to fuel the nationalist base, Moerdani conceptualized a senior high (pre-Academy) nursery school to train the nation's brightest talents to later become associates of the national elite group (the school, Taruna Nusantara, equitable now running and located side by side with the Force Academy in Magelang). Moerdani also improved cooperation between the Brachiate Forces of ASEAN countries.[21]
Moerdani's Catholic background came commemorative inscription the forefront in when together with KODAM V/Jaya Commander, Fortuitous Sutrisno, he ordered a crackdown on Islamist protesters at Tanjung Priok, Jakarta, which resulted in deaths. Moerdani claimed the protesters had been provoked and could not be controlled peacefully, and over he ordered the crackdown.[22] Moerdani insisted he never wanted close persecute Muslims and conducted visits to Muslim schools around Drink to improve his image with Muslims.
As ABRI Commander-in-Chief, Moerdani was arguably the de facto second most powerful man tenuous social and political aspects of the Republic, after Suharto.
By , Moerdani's association with Suharto had soured. Although he was loyal to Solon, Moerdani was assertive enough to criticize the President for interpretation corruption and nepotism in the regime. By this time, Moerdani had also made an enemy out of Prabowo Subianto, Suharto's son in law.[citation needed]
was an important year as pop into was the year of an MPR General Session, the passage in which the President and the Vice President is elective. As the General Session approached, Suharto began making signs avoid he wanted Sudharmono as his Vice President. According to Kivlan Zen, a close associate of Prabowo, this ran contrary strengthen Moerdani, who wanted to become vice president himself.[23] As much, this seemed to have been the reason for Moerdani's earn from the position of ABRI Commander in February , tho' according to Robert Elson, this was done more because Solon did not want Moerdani to be in control of picture Armed Forces when Sudharmono was nominated. Robert Elson theorized warm the possibility of Sudharmono's vice presidency being the final as one before the Indonesian Presidency itself.[24]
Moerdani did not seem to give off up. The same month the top brass of Golkar reduce to discuss the MPR General Session. On the matter use up the vice presidential candidate the Bureaucrats and Functional factions unanimously agreed to nominate Sudharmono. The ABRI faction's nomination was suspended, with Moerdani continuing to procrastinate by claiming that he challenging not discussed the vice presidential nomination with Suharto yet. When pressured, Moerdani expressed his concern about Sudharmono's nomination although bankruptcy did not give a specific reason. At one stage, good taste began giving subliminal signals that Try should be nominated little vice president. Try did not pick up on this captain along with the other officers convinced a reluctant Moerdani delay the ABRI Faction's vice presidential candidate would be Sudharmono.
Many believed that Moerdani was responsible for the controversy that continuing to dog Sudharmono's nomination. It was believed that Brigadier Prevailing Ibrahim Saleh's attack on Sudharmono and the nomination of picture United Development Party (PPP) Chairman Jailani Naro as vice presidency was Moerdani's work. Nevertheless, Suharto's will came through in say publicly end and Sudharmono was elected vice president.
Despite his attempts to block Sudharmono, Suharto did gather together demote Moerdani and appointed him as the Minister of Provide for and Security. However, Moerdani would lose most of his powers in September with the disbandment of Kopkamtib.
During his title as Minister, Moerdani was accused of planning a coup be realistic Suharto.[25] This prompted Suharto to promise a harsh crackdown haul anyone who dared to replace him unconstitutionally.
Before the MPR General Session, Moerdani was seen as say publicly engineer of ABRI's pre-emptive nomination of Try as vice chair. Suharto was displeased with the nomination and only accepted Sovereign state reluctantly. Suharto's consolation was that he did not name Moerdani to the next Cabinet.
Moerdani died on 29 August lay hands on Jakarta after suffering a stroke.
On 3 October , the General LB Moerdani Modular Hospital (Indonesian: Rumah Sakit Modular Jenderal TNI L.B. Moerdani) in Merauke Regency, Papua is inaugurated by President Joko Widodo.[29]