Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin


General Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin is an Indonesian army officer and politician serving as the 27th minister of defense since 2024. From 2010 to 2014, he served as deputy minister of defense. He once was Suharto's bodyguard and one of his most loyal confidants until his downfall and also an old friend of Indonesia's incumbent president Prabowo Subianto, who was his classmate at the military academy.
Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin served in the Indonesian military and was a member of the Kopassus unit. He was accused of human rights abuses throughout his military career. He participated in the Indonesian invasion of East Timor and was later reported to be present at the Santa Cruz massacre in 1991, and the 1999 East Timorese crisis. He was also accused of involvement over the 1997–98 activists kidnappings in Indonesia and the May 1998 riots in Jakarta, where he was the city's military commander at the time. He was cleared by Indonesian authorities over the riots and was not formally charged in East Timor or the kidnappings, although he was dismissed from the military over the latter issue. In 2009, he was denied a visa by the United States when he was an adviser to then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Early life

Sjafrie was born in Makassar on 30 October 1952. He was the 6th child out of 11 siblings from Sjamsoeddin Koernia, a former soldier, and Hamdana. Sjafrie enrolled into the Indonesian Military Academy on 1971 and graduated in 1974 with Sjafrie given the best graduate award. He made friends with Prabowo Subianto and Ryamizard Ryacudu who were his classmates. On 1989, he enrolled into Indonesian Army Command and General Staff College.

Military career

After graduating, Sjafrie and Prabowo joined Kopassus, the special forces arm of the Indonesian Army. Sjafrie participated in numerous conflicts in East Timor, Aceh, and West Papua. His first command was as a platoon commander in Group 1 Para Commandos He took part in Operation Lotus as a part of the invasion force to East Timor, becoming the commander of Force Nanggala X on 1976. In 1985, Sjafrie attended an advanced training course for infantry officers in Fort Benning.

Honours

As an Indonesian Army officer and Minister of Defence, Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin received the following awards and decorations:

National Honours