Yapto Soelistyo Soerjosoemarno is an Indonesian politician who is known as the leader of Pancasila Youth, an organization of quasi-official political gangsters that supported the New Order military dictatorship of

Soeharto 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 l ...

, while also engaging in other lucrative but non-official criminal acts. Pancasila Youth played an important role in supporting Soeharto's military coup in 1965: they ran death squads for the Indonesian army, murdering thousands of alleged communists across the province of North Sumatra.

Early life

He was born 16 December 1949, in Surakarta, Central Java. His father, Ir. KPN. Soetarjo Soerjosoemarno, is a member of the Mangkunegaran Javanese nobility. Soerjosoemarno is also an expert in

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...

and geodesy who finished his education at the

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. His mother, Dolly Zegerius, who was of Jewish Dutch origin was a competitive

contract bridge Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions ...

player, and a naturalised Indonesian citizen

Career

Yapto Soerjosoemarno is known as the leader of Pancasila Youth, an organization of semi-official political gangsters that supported the New Order military dictatorship of Soeharto. Pancasila Youth played an important role in supporting Soeharto's military coup in 1965: they ran death squads for the Indonesian army, murdering thousands of alleged communists and

Chinese Indonesians Chinese Indonesians ( id, Orang Tionghoa Indonesia) and colloquially Chindo or just Tionghoa are Indonesians whose ancestors arrived from China at some stage in the last eight centuries. Chinese people and their Indonesian descendants have l ...

across the province of North Sumatra. The leaders of these death squads, Effendy Nasution, Jan Pahrum Lubis, Roshiman and others selected Yapto to lead Pancasila Youth in 1980. In addition to leading Pancasila Youth, Yapto today leads a political party formally affiliated with Pancasila Youth called the Patriot Party. The Patriot Party is known for its loyalty to the family of former Indonesian President, the late General Suharto. He is also a lawyer and owns a law firm in

South Jakarta South Jakarta ( id, Jakarta Selatan; bew, Jakarte Beludik ), colloquially known as ''Jaksel'', is one of the five administrative cities which form the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, Indonesia. South Jakarta is not self-governed and does not ...

, Indonesia. Yapto also heads other 'youth gangs'. On 12 March 2011, Yapto received a bomb disguised as a book named ''Apakah Masih Ada Pancasila'' (Does the Pancasila still exist?). Yapto featured in the award-winning 2012 documentary '' The Act of Killing'', in which he is shown as a wealthy and misogynistic he-man. He has threatened to sue the film's director or producers.

Personal life

Yapto married Retno Suciati and has three children: Golda Nayawitri B.D.K, Sahid Abishalom B.N.N.S, and Jedidiah Shenazar K.S. The Soerjosoemarno family includes several performers: Yapto's elder sister

Marini Marini (last name) is a surname of Roman/Italian Catholic origin; closely associated with the last names: Marino and Mariani with the three patronymic forms emerging from the same region at approximately the same time. Migrations branching from Ita ...

is an actress, and his niece Shelomita (Marini's daughter) is a singer. Both he and his family have had frequent brushes with the law and have been detained.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soerjosoemarno, Yapto 1949 births Living people People from Surakarta Indonesian Muslims Indonesian anti-communists 20th-century Indonesian lawyers Indonesian people of Dutch descent Indonesian people of Dutch-Jewish descent Indo people Patriot Party (Indonesia) politicians