L. B. Moerdani
Leonardus Benjamin Moerdani was the Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces and Commander of the Kopkamtib from 1983 to 1988, and the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Indonesia from 1988 to 1993. During this time, he played an important role in Indonesian political and social life. He was noted as a Catholic leader in a predominantly Muslim country.
Moerdani spent nearly his entire career in military intelligence, and was sometimes described as a "spymaster."
Early life
Moerdani was born on 2 October 1932 at Cepu, in the Blora Regency in Central Java, to R. G. Moerdani Sosrodirjo, a railway worker and his Indo Eurasian wife Jeanne Roech, who was half German. Moerdani was the 3rd out of 11 children. Although a Muslim, Moerdani Sosrodirjo tolerated his wife's and in their turn, his children's Catholic faith.Military career
Early military career
After the Indonesian Declaration of Independence on 17 August 1945, Moerdani was caught up in the wave of nationalism. In October 1945, aged 13, Moerdani took part in an assault on a Kempeitai headquarters in Solo after the Kempetai refused to surrender to Indonesian troops. When the People's Security Army, the precursor to the Indonesian Armed Forces was formed, Moerdani joined a Student Army unit which came under the authority of an Indonesian Army Brigade. During the Second Dutch military offensive, Moerdani was part of the Abdoel Latif Company of Tentara Pelajar defending the city of Surakarta. On the afternoon of 21 December 1948, Moerdani was wounded when his unit was engaged by a Dutch Universal Carrier. One of the bullet fired from the armored vehicle shattered his rifle buttstock and he was hit by the shrapnel, rendering him unconscious. He was immediately brought to safety by other members of the Tentara Pelajar.Post-independence
After Indonesian independence, Moerdani completed his education, graduating from middle school and going on to high school; in the meantime taking a part-time job helping his uncle sell goods. In 1951, the Indonesian Government began undertaking demobilization but Moerdani's brigade was deemed to have performed well enough for its soldiers to continue serving with ABRI. Moerdani, together with his brigade enlisted with the Army Officers Education Center and began training in January 1951. At the same time, Moerdani also took part in the Infantry Trainers School.Moerdani completed his military education from P3AD in April 1952 and from SPI in May 1952. He was also given the rank of Chief Warrant Officer. 2 years later, in 1954, Moerdani received his commission as a Second Lieutenant and was stationed at TT III Siliwangi, which looked after the security of West Java.
KKAD/RPKAD
In a bid to deal with the threat of Darul Islam, Colonel Alex Evert Kawilarang, the Commander of TT III Siliwangi formed the TT III Siliwangi Commando Unit. Their success interested the Army Headquarters in Jakarta to endorse the formation of a Special Forces Unit. As such, in 1954, the Army Commando Unit was formed. Moerdani was assigned as a trainer for the soldiers wishing to join KKAD and was appointed Head of the Teaching Bureau. In 1955, KKAD went through a name change, and it was now known as the Army Paracommando Regiment. Not long after, Moerdani was appointed a Company Commander.As a member of RPKAD, Moerdani became part of the battle to suppress the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia, a Sumatran-based rebel group. In March 1958, Moerdani parachuted down behind enemy lines in Pekanbaru and Medan to prepare the groundwork for ABRI to take over the two cities. A month later, on 17 April 1958, Moerdani took part in Operation 17 August, an operation which struck the killing blow on the PRRI rebellion. Moerdani's next assignment was against the Universal Struggle Charter, another rebel group in Sulawesi. Similar to what he did in Sumatra, Moerdani and his troops laid down the foundations for an all out attack on Permesta who surrendered in June 1958.
After PRRI and Permesta's surrenders, Moerdani, was stationed in Aceh. In the beginning of 1960, he contemplated becoming an Army Aircraft Pilot but was dissuaded from it by Ahmad Yani who sent him to the United States to join the United States Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. There, Moerdani took part in an Infantry Officers Advanced Course and trained with the 101st Airborne Division.
Papua
Moerdani returned to Indonesia in 1961 to find ABRI preparing itself for a takeover of West Irian. His first assignment was to train the paratroopers who were supposed to land behind enemy lines and infiltrate. As the months went on, the infiltration did not bring concrete results. In May 1962, Moerdani was assigned to lead a paratroop drop which consisted of RPKAD and Kostrad soldiers. After landing in West Irian in late June 1962, Moerdani led his troops in fighting skirmishes against members of the Dutch Marine until the United Nations intervened in August 1962 and decided to give West Irian to Indonesia. Once there was a ceasefire, Moerdani was placed in charge of all the guerilla troops in West Irian.By 1964, Moerdani was back in Jakarta again. His achievements during the West Irian campaign had caught the eye of President Sukarno who wanted to recruit him as a presidential bodyguard and marry him to one of his daughters. Moerdani held his ground and rejected both offers.
''Konfrontasi''
In 1964, Moerdani and an RPKAD Battalion was sent to Borneo to fight a guerilla war against Malaysian and Commonwealth troops as part of the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation. However, he did not spend a long time at Borneo, returning to Jakarta by September. At this stage, Moerdani had once again contemplated on expanding his career this time trying to decide between a career as a territorial commander in Borneo or as a military attaché. He picked the latter and had asked for a posting in Beijing.Move to the Kostrad
At the end of 1964, a meeting of RPKAD officers was held and Moerdani was invited along. The topic of the meeting was to discuss removing crippled soldiers from RPKAD to which Moerdani objected. News of Moerdani's objection found its way to Yani, who was now the Army Commander. Yani summoned Moerdani and accused him of insubordination. The meeting ended with Yani ordering Moerdani to move from RPKAD to Kostrad. Moerdani handed over command of his RPKAD battalion on 6 January 1965.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 an officer attached to the Operations and Training Bureau. His luck changed when Lieutenant Colonel Ali Murtopo found out that he was part of Kostrad. Having been acquainted with Moerdani during the West Irian campaign, Ali recognized Moerdani's potential and wanted 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 ordered by Sukarno in response to the creation of Malaysia in the fall of 1963. Ali recruited Moerdani to be Deputy Intelligence Assistant and gave him his first taste of intelligence work as the armed forces were fighting in the dense Borneo jungles against the Malaysian Armed Forces alongside servicemen from the Commonwealth of Nations.
Salesman for Garuda
In addition to becoming Deputy Intelligence Assistant, Moerdani also became part of Ali's Special Operations intelligence team. His task was to gather intelligence on Malaysia from Bangkok under the cover of being a Garuda Indonesia ticket seller. As 1965 wore on, his assignment also covered sending messages out by Army officers, tired and weary, who were not interested in the confrontation to the Malaysian government for the prospect of gaining a peaceful settlement.30 September Movement
After the 30 September Movement was crushed on 1 October 1965 by Kostrad Commander Major General Suharto, Moerdani's activities intensified. He was joined by Ali and together they began working at laying the foundations for an end of the Confrontation. Their efforts culminated on 11 August 1966 when the Indonesian and Malaysian governments signed an agreement to normalise relations between the two nations.Diplomatic career
Although peace had been reached, Moerdani stayed in Malaysia as chargé d'affaires. His first task was to ensure the release of Indonesian soldiers and guerilla fighters which had been caught during Confrontation. In March 1968, with an ambassador finally assigned to Malaysia, Moerdani became the head of the Indonesian Consulate in Western Malaysia. At the same time, he continued being part of Opsus with the assignment of conducting surveillance on the goings on in the Vietnam War.At the end of 1969 Moerdani was transferred to Seoul to become the Indonesian consul general at South Korea. He was promoted from colonel to brigadier-general in February 1970 just before he took up his post in Seoul. In 1973, Moerdani's status was upgraded from consul general to chargé d'affaires.