Ali Murtopo (23 September 1924 – 15 May 1984) was a prominent
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
n general and political figure during the first half of General
Suharto
Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...
's
New Order regime.
Early life
Ali Murtopo was born on 23 September 1924 in Kebumen, Central Java and received his education in Central Java and
West Java
West Java ( id, Jawa Barat, su, ᮏᮝ ᮊᮥᮜᮧᮔ᮪, romanized ''Jawa Kulon'') is a province of Indonesia on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten ...
. He met his wife, Wastoeti, in
Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...
and they were married in May 1956.
Military career
As a teenager, Ali joined
Hizbullah
Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's paramili ...
but would eventually join the
Indonesian military
, founded = as the ('People's Security Forces')
, current_form =
, disbanded =
, branches =
, headquarters = Cilangkap, Jakarta
, website =
, commander-in-chief = Joko Widodo
, ...
. During the
Indonesian National Revolution
The Indonesian National Revolution, or the Indonesian War of Independence, was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during Aftermath of WWII, postw ...
, Ali became a staff member in a brigade led by
Ahmad Yani
General Ahmad Yani (19 June 1922 – 1 October 1965) was the Commander of the Indonesian Army, and was killed by members of the 30 September Movement during an attempt to kidnap him from his house.
Early life
Ahmad Yani was born in Jena ...
. In 1952, Ali became a
company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...
Commander in Ahmad Yani's
Banteng Raiders, an elite group of soldiers formed to chase away the remnants of the
Darul Islam movement.
In 1956, whilst still in command of his Banteng Raider unit, Ali was involved in the lobbying to decide who should become the Commander of the 4th Military Territory (TT IV)
Diponegoro
Prince Diponegoro ( jv, ꦢꦶꦥꦤꦼꦒꦫ; born Bendara Raden Mas Mustahar, ; later Bendara Raden Mas Antawirya ; 11 November 1785 – 8 January 1855), also known as Dipanegara, was a Javanese prince who opposed the Dutch colonial rule. The e ...
, which supervised the security of the Provinces of Central Java and
Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...
. Although the Army Headquarters in Jakarta had decided on a candidate, those within TT IV Diponegoro, led by
Yoga Sugama
General
A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. ...
wanted the then Lieutenant Colonel Suharto to become the next TT IV Commander. Yoga met various officers within TT IV Diponegoro to look for support and Ali for his part, gave his support to Suharto. After getting enough support, Yoga went to Jakarta to inform the Army Headquarters of who the soldiers at TT IV Diponegoro wanted as their Commander. The Army Headquarters relented and Suharto was appointed Commander.
As a reward, Ali was appointed as Territorial Assistant to Suharto with Yoga occupying the position of intelligence assistant. Together with
Sujono Humardhani
Major General Soedjono Hoemardani (7 September 191812 March 1986) was an Indonesian military officer.
Soedjono originated from Surakarta and after an early career in his father's trading business he joined the fledgling Indonesian National Arme ...
, who was in charge of finance, the four would go up the ranks together. In 1959, Ali took part in the fighting against the
Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia
The Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Pemerintah Revolusioner Republik Indonesia
(PRRI)) was a revolutionary government set up in Sumatra to oppose the central government of Indonesia in 1958.
Although frequently refer ...
(PRRI), a rebel group from
Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
. He was sent to fight in Sumatra as a
Regimental
A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation.
In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...
Chief of Staff with Yoga as the Regiment Commander.
Suharto's Dismissal
1959 was also the year in which Suharto was dismissed from his position as TT IV Commander as a result of him being involved in illegal activities. Ali stayed on with TT IV which was now renamed Kodam VII/Diponegoro (currently
Kodam IV/Diponegoro
KODAM IV/Diponegoro or IV ''Military Regional Command/Diponegoro'' ( id, Komando Daerah Militer IV/Diponegoro) is a military area command (effectively a military district) of the Indonesian Army. It covers the provinces of Central Java and Spe ...
) until early 1961, when he rejoined Suharto. Suharto was now the Operations Assistant to the Army Chief of Staff, General
A H Nasution and was now the Commander of the Army General Reserve (Caduad), a strategic force unit which would be on standby, ready to be called into battle at any time. Ali received the position of Assistant to the Caduad Chief of Staff. In 1963, Caduad would change its name to the Army Strategic Command
Kostrad
The Army Strategic Reserves Command ( id, Komando Cadangan Strategis Angkatan Darat; abbreviated ) is a combined-arms formation of the Indonesian Army. Kostrad is a Corps level command which has up to 35,000 troops. It also supervises operati ...
.
Confrontation
During the
Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation that had begun in 1963, Kostrad had been expected to play a vital role by virtue of Suharto being appointed Deputy Commander of the Alert Theater Command (Kolaga), a battle command headed by
Air Marshal Omar Dhani and which had been formed for the purpose of fighting a war against
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
. The Army however was not enthusiastic about Confrontation and dragged its feet. Ali, now the Intelligence Assistant at Kostrad would become involved with this process. Using his Special Operations (Opsus) unit, Ali sent out messages to the Malaysian Government to inform them about the Army's stance on Confrontation and to ask the Malaysian Government to consider a peaceful solution to Confrontation.
Transition to New Order
On the morning of 1 October 1965, Ali found himself hastily summoned to Kostrad headquarters to respond to a rapidly developing incident. The morning had seen six generals kidnapped and unidentified troops occupying the Presidential Palace, the
National Monument
A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure.
The term may also refer to a spec ...
, and the
Radio Republik Indonesia
''Radio Republik Indonesia'' (Radio of the Republic of Indonesia, abbreviated as RRI), legally ''Lembaga Penyiaran Publik (LPP) Radio Republik Indonesia'' ( Public Broadcasting Institution Radio of the Republic of Indonesia), is a public radio ...
building. Suharto arrived at the scene just in time to hear an announcement by a group calling themselves the
30 September Movement saying that they had just stopped a coup attempt by a Council of Generals. With army commander
Ahmad Yani
General Ahmad Yani (19 June 1922 – 1 October 1965) was the Commander of the Indonesian Army, and was killed by members of the 30 September Movement during an attempt to kidnap him from his house.
Early life
Ahmad Yani was born in Jena ...
nowhere to be found, Suharto assumed leadership of the Army.
The first thing to be done was to identify the unidentified troops occupying strategic locations in Jakarta. It was soon found out that the troops were
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...
s 454 and 530 from Central and East Java. After getting this information, Suharto sent Ali on a negotiation mission to Battalion 454. Ali conveyed Suharto's warning that the Battalion had until 6 pm to surrender but ultimately failed to convince them. Battalion 454 chose instead to retreat to
Halim Airbase, the command post of the 30 September Movement. Nevertheless, the victory that day belonged to Suharto who regained control of Jakarta by the morning of 2 October 1965.
When Suharto was appointed Commander of the Army, Ali became part of Suharto's personal staff and together with Yoga who looked after intelligence matters. Ali was by Suharto's side as the latter began his
rise to power. In early 1966, as the Army encouraged student protesters to demonstrate against President
Sukarno
Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967.
Sukarno was the leader of ...
, Ali played his part by assigning Kostrad troops to protect the protesters from troops loyal to the President. The political unrest finally ended on 11 March 1966 when Sukarno handed over executive authority to Suharto through
Supersemar
The Order of Eleventh March ( id, Surat Perintah Sebelas Maret), commonly referred to by its syllabic abbreviation ''Supersemar'', was a document signed by the Indonesian President Sukarno on 11 March 1966, giving army commander Lt. Gen. Suhar ...
.
With Suharto holding considerable political power, there was now an official effort to end Confrontation. Ali laid the groundwork for the rapprochement before official diplomacy was undertaken by Minister of Foreign Affairs
Adam Malik
Adam Malik Batubara (22 July 1917 – 5 September 1984), or more commonly referred to simply as Adam Malik, was an Indonesians, Indonesian politician, diplomat, and journalist, who served as the 3rd Vice President of Indonesia from 1978 until ...
.
New Order
First years
Ali's power would increase after Suharto was elected Acting President and full President by the Provisional
People's Consultative Assembly
The People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, MPR-RI) is the legislative branch in Politics of Indonesia, Indonesia's political system. It is composed of the membe ...
(MPRS) in 1967 and 1968 respectively. In 1967, Ali became the Deputy Head of the
National Intelligence Coordinating Agency
The National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) is the primary intelligence gathering and analysis arm of the Government of the Philippines in charge of carrying out overt, covert, and clandestine intelligence activities. The NICA cooper ...
(Bakin) but his real power was derived from his positions as a member of the President's team of Personal Assistants (''asisten pribadi'' or
Aspri
Asisten Pribadi (English: Personal assistants), better known by the acronym Aspri, were a team of advisors to Indonesian President Suharto from 1968 until 1974. The group was disbanded in the wake of the Malari incident in January 1974, though a ...
) and as the Head of Opsus. As an Aspri, Ali's power came from the fact that he had Suharto's ear and that together with other Aspri members such as Sujono, he was one of a group of few people who Suharto consulted regularly for advice. As the Head of Opsus, Ali was the head of an extraconstitutional agency which had broad and undefined powers. In this capacity, he was only answerable to Suharto himself.
Sarwo Edhie Wibowo
In 1969, together with
Sarwo Edhie Wibowo
Lieutenant General (Ret.) Sarwo Edhie Wibowo (25 July 1925 – 9 November 1989) was an Indonesian military leader and the father of Kristiani Herrawati, the former first lady of Indonesia and the wife of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and a ...
, Ali was assigned by Suharto to make sure that the people of
Papua (then known as West Irian) voted for integration with Indonesia in the
Act of Free Choice
The Act of Free Choice ( id, Penentuan Pendapat Rakyat, PEPERA, Determination of the People's Opinion) was a controversial plebiscite held between 14 July and 2 August 1969 in which 1,025 people selected by the Indonesian military in Western New ...
. In ensuring this, Ali's focus was the Act of Free Choice Consultative Council (Dewan Musyawarah Pepera), a group of 1,025 Papuans who will vote on behalf of the whole West Irian population.
Ali also took measures to further strengthen the position of the New Order regime. In 1970, Ali actively interfered in the internal affairs of the
Indonesian National Party
The Indonesian National Party ( id, Partai Nasional Indonesia, PNI) was the name used by several nationalist political parties in Indonesia from 1927 until the 2000s. The first PNI was established by future President Sukarno. After independence, th ...
(PNI) and the
Indonesian Muslim Party (Parmusi). In both cases, Ali interfered to make sure that the leadership of both parties were not hostile towards Suharto's government. In 1971, Ali also popularized the concept of the "floating mass" which sought to depoliticize Indonesian society and cut down on the influence of political parties.
Perhaps more importantly, Ali set down the mechanisms by which Suharto would be able to be re-elected for the Presidency. After deciding on the Joint Secretariat of the Functional Groups (Sekber
Golkar
)
, foundation =
, youth = AMPG (Golkar Party Young Force)
, women = KPPG (Golkar Party Women's Corps)
, newspaper = '' Suara Karya'' (1971–2016)
, headquarters = Jakarta
, ideology ...
) as his political party, Suharto ordered Ali to begin preparing Sekber Golkar for the
1971 Legislative Election. Ali did so by laying down a
party platform
A political party platform (US English), party program, or party manifesto (preferential term in British & often Commonwealth English) is a formal set of principle goals which are supported by a political party or individual candidate, in order ...
based on development, stability, order, and unity to attract voters. To further ensure the prospects of victory, Ali made sure that the Government threw its support behind Golkar and mobilized the populace to vote for Golkar. This he did by allocating quotas of the amount of vote to be won for Government officials at lower levels of Government. Ali's preparation paid off and on 5 July 1971, Golkar won the Legislative Elections with 62.5% of the votes. This was followed by Suharto's re-election to the Presidency by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in 1973.
Although he held a lot of power and influence, Ali was by no means a popular figure. Among the critics of the regime, Ali, like his Aspri colleagues were disliked for the amount of power that they held despite the lack of clarity given to their roles. Ali was also unpopular amongst some colleagues for using his access to Suharto to erode their influence. At one point, he used this access to recommend an ally for the position of Provincial Governor; whereas if the proper procedures were adhered to, it would be up to the Minister of Home Affairs to recommend the appointment of a Governor to the President.
Centre for Strategic and International Studies
In the early 1970s Ali, along with his colleague
Soedjono Hoemardani
Major General Soedjono Hoemardani (7 September 191812 March 1986) was an Indonesian military officer.
Soedjono originated from Surakarta and after an early career in his father's trading business he joined the fledgling Indonesian National Arme ...
, became associated with the new think tank, the
Centre for Strategic and International Studies
The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is a non-profit organization based in Indonesia which has served as a think tank on social, international, political and economical issues. CSIS was founded on Sept 1, 1971 by a group of ...
(CSIS) which was established in Jakarta in 1971. As part of his activities with CSIS, Ali prepared a book, ''Some Basic Thoughts on the Acceleration and Modernization of 25 Years’ Development'', setting out his broad ideas on the future of Indonesia. He emphasised the importance of security, stability, and the need to "accelerate the modernization of the nation." He spoke of the goal of tripling national income over a 25-year period, and of the aim of sustaining an 8% annual growth rate.
Rivalry with General Sumitro
As Suharto began his second term as President, he did not have the amount of popularity that he had when he took the office from Sukarno. As 1973 wore on, there was increasing displeasure, especially within universities with corruption, the amount of foreign investment in the Indonesian economy, and the power held by Aspri. At the same time, a rivalry was developing within the political elite. On one side was Ali, who advocated the military's continuing involvement with politics. On the other side was General
Sumitro
Sumitro, or Soemitro (13 January 1925 – 10 May 1998) was a prominent Indonesian General in the early years of General Suharto's New Order before suddenly falling from grace in January 1974 after the Malari incident.
Early life
Sumitro was ...
, the Commander of the Restoration of Security and Order Operation Command (
Kopkamtib
The Operational Command for the Restoration of Security and Order ( id, Komando Operasi Pemulihan Keamanan dan Ketertiban), or Kopkamtib, was a military body established to deal with the 1965 coup attempt operation in Indonesia, and was subsequen ...
), Indonesia's
secret police
Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...
agency. Sumitro wanted the military to cut down its involvement in politics and to reduce its role to a purely professional one. Towards the end of 1973, Sumitro began to distance himself from the Government. He did not take action against the criticism and dissent directed at the regime although it was well within his brief to do so. In fact, Sumitro began holding talks in university campuses and calling for a new leadership. As 1973 drew to a close, Suharto tried to mediate the two rivals through a series of meetings but he did not succeed.
Kakuei Tanaka's visit
On 14 January 1974, Japanese Prime Minister
Kakuei Tanaka
was a Japanese politician who served in the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives from 1947 Japanese general election, 1947 to 1990 Japanese general election, 1990, and was Prime Minister of Japan from 1972 to 1974.
After ...
arrived in Jakarta for a visit. Tanaka's visit provided the ideal opportunity for those who were critical of the amount of foreign investment in Indonesia to protest and express their displeasure. On 15 and 16 January however,
the protests turned violent and riots broke out in Jakarta leaving 11 dead, 300 injured, and 775 arrested. On first glance, it would seem as if the blame was Sumitro's. Based on the riots that ensued, it looked as if he had made the wrong decision by allowing the demonstrators to protest. But there is a theory that Ali had sent his agents into the crowd to incite the violence so that Sumitro could be discredited
Sumitro's dismissal and Aspri dissolution
After Tanaka left, Suharto took action against Sumitro. Sumitro resigned the Commandership of Kopkamtib and followed it up with his resignation from the Deputy Commandership of ABRI two months later. To his chagrin however, Ali did not survive the incident intact. Suharto had decided to address some of the criticisms that had been raised by his critics, including the matter of the amount of power that the Aspri had. Suharto responded to this criticism by disbanding Aspri altogether and thus depriving Ali of a considerable amount of his power.
However, shortly afterwards, Ali was promoted to Lieutenant-General.
Latter years
After Aspri was disbanded, Murtopo did not have as much power or the leeway to use it as he did in the first few years of the regime. He was however still loyal to Suharto and in turn, Suharto still had confidence in him. When the matter of
East Timor
East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...
's decolonization emerged, Murtopo was entrusted with heading ''Operasi Komodo'' in early 1975, a covert operation set up with the hopes of having East Timor integrate with Indonesia with the help of
pro-Indonesian forces in East Timor and without Indonesia having to resort to military means. He was also part of the diplomacy, being sent as a special envoy to
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
to gauge the opinion of East Timor's then colonial rulers and give a warning to the East Timorese in August 1975 that Indonesia would not tolerate an independent East Timor under the government of
Fretilin
The Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor ( pt, Frente Revolucionária de Timor-Leste Independente, abbreviated as Fretilin) is a centre-left political party in East Timor. They presently hold 23 of 65 seats in the National Parliam ...
.
In 1977, Murtopo was plagued by health problems but nevertheless he still had ambitions for the future; hoping that he would either be made the Head of
Bakin or become the
Minister of Home Affairs
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
.
Ali got neither position, being named instead in 1978 as the Minister of Information in the
Third Development Cabinet
The Third Development Cabinet ( id, Kabinet Pembangunan III) was the Indonesian Cabinet which served under President Suharto and Vice President Adam Malik. The Cabinet was formed after Suharto was elected to a third term as president by the Peo ...
. After five years serving as a Minister, Murtopo became the Vice Chairman of the
Supreme Advisory Council (DPA).
Death
Ali Murtopo died on 15 May 1984. He was buried at the
Kalibata Heroes Cemetery
The National Main Heroes Cemetery in Kalibata ( id, Taman Makam Pahlawan Nasional Utama, Kalibata, colloquially known as Kalibata Heroes Cemetery ( id, Taman Makam Pahlawan Kalibata, or ''TMP Kalibata'') is a military cemetery in Kalibata, South ...
in Jakarta.
Additional reading
* Moertopo, Ali. 1972. ''Some Basic Thoughts on the Acceleration and Modernization of 25 Years’ Development''. Jakarta: Yayasan Proklamasi, Centre for Strategic and International Studies, originally published as ''Dasar-dasar Pemikiran tentang Akselerasi Modernisasi Pembangunan 25 Tahun.''
* Centre for Strategic and International Studies. 2004. ''Ali Moertopo 1924 - 1984.'' Jakarta: Centre for Strategic and International Studies, .
* Tempo. 2017. ''Ali Moertopo'', Jakarta: KPG (Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia), .
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murtopo, Ali
1924 births
1984 deaths
Indonesian generals