Moeldoko (pronounced uldoko born 8 July 1957) is an

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

government official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their su ...

, businessman, and retired

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

serving as the current Chief of Staff of Presidency for President

Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), popularly known as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the 7th and current president of Indonesia. Elected in July 2014, he was the first Indonesian president not to come from an elite ...

, previously serving as

Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces The Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces ( id, Panglima Tentara Nasional Indonesia, known as Panglima TNI) is the professional head and highest-ranking officer of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. Directly answerable to the pre ...

. He graduated from the

Indonesian Military Academy The Military Academy ( id, Akademi Militer or ) is a service academy of the Indonesian Army, part of the Indonesian National Armed Forces Academy (). Founded on the early stages of the Indonesian Revolutionary War and located in the city of Mag ...

(AKABRI) in 1981 and received the Adhi Makayasa medal as valedictorian of his class. On August 27, 2013, he was appointed Commander of the National Armed Forces by President

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (born 9 September 1949), commonly referred to by his initials SBY, is an Indonesian politician and retired army general who served as the sixth president of Indonesia from 2004 to 2014. A member of the Democratic Party ...

and approved by the

People's Representative Council The People's Representative Council of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, DPR-RI), also known as the House of Representatives, is one of two elected chambers of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), ...

(Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, DPR) after serving as the Chief of Staff of the Army for only three months. He succeeded Admiral (Ret.)

Agus Suhartono Admiral (Ret.) Agus Suhartono (pronounced ; born 25 August 1955)

Military career

Moeldoko has been assigned to several military operations during his career. The most notable of these operations are: Operation Seroja in East Timor (1984) and

Garuda Contingent The Garuda Contingent (), abbreviated KONGA, is a group of peacekeepers drawn from the Indonesian military; currently titled Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI) and originally known as Angkatan Perang RI, that serve with the United Nations (UN). S ...

XI/A for The Congo (1995). In addition, his overseas assignments and operations include stints in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

(1983 and 1987),

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

(1991),

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

(1992),

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Within seven months of 2013, General Moeldoko was granted three promotions: first as Deputy Army Chief of Staff in February, then as Army Chief of Staff in May, and as Commander of

Indonesian National Armed Forces , founded = as the ('People's Security Forces') , current_form = , disbanded = , branches = , headquarters = Cilangkap, Jakarta , website = , commander-in-chief = Joko Widodo , ...

(TNI) on August 30. In the same year, he also received a Doctorate degree in public administration science from the Faculty of Social and Political Science of the Universitas Indonesia (UI). In February 2014, he met with the Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission, General

Fan Changlong Fan Changlong (; born May 1947) is a retired general in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of the People's Republic of China. He was a Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and formerly served as commander of the Jinan Military Regio ...

Beijing, China } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, to discuss bilateral ties. These discussions were related to maritime and

anti-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or el ...

cooperation as well as the Komodo multilateral joint exercise that involves all 10

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...

member states together with

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, Japan, New Zealand,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and USA. To promote friendship and cooperation, General Moeldoko met with Vietnamese General

Phùng Quang Thanh Phùng Quang Thanh (2 February 1949 – 11 September 2021) was Vietnam's Minister of Defense from 2006 to 2016. Phùng Quang Thanh was an officer of the Vietnam People's Army and a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Enl ...

, Minister of National Defence of Vietnam in February, 2014 and with Defense Secretary

Voltaire Gazmin Voltaire Tuvera Gazmin (born 22 October 1944 in Moncada, Tarlac) is a retired Filipino soldier who was the 35th Secretary of the Department of National Defense of the Philippines. Gazmin assumed office on 1 July 2010, after President Benigno S. ...

and

Armed Forces of the Philippines The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) ( fil, Sandatahang Lakas ng Pilipinas) are the military forces of the Philippines. It consists of three main service branches; the Army, the Air Force, and the Navy (including the Marine Corps). The P ...

General Emmanuel Bautista at Camp Aguinaldo. Although he has never served outside the military, General Moeldoko has been active at home and abroad. He has been mentioned as potential VP and running mate of

, the governor of Jakarta and candidate in the 2014 Indonesian presidential elections, though he ultimately is not selected as a candidate.

Political career

After retiring from the military, Moeldoko joined

Hanura The People's Conscience Party ( id, Partai Hati Nurani Rakyat), better known by its abbreviation, Hanura, is a political party in Indonesia. It was established following a meeting in Jakarta on 13–14 December 2006 and first headed by former Ind ...

Party in 2016. On 17 January 2018, Indonesian president Joko Widodo chose him to be the Presidential Chief of Staff. On 2021, he was elected as a

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

General Chairman in a heavily disputed extraordinary congress.

Controversies

General Moeldoko has been involved in handling the incident of the turning-back asylum boats in Australia. He is also involved in the decision to name an Indonesian navy ship after marines associated with

MacDonald House Bombing The MacDonald House bombing was a sabotage attack on the MacDonald House building in Orchard Road, Singapore, on 10 March 1965, just a few months before Singapore's expulsion from Malaysia. The nitroglycerin bomb was planted by Indonesian sab ...

in Singapore in 1965. He had also been criticized for allegedly wearing a $100,000

Richard Mille Richard Mille is a Swiss luxury watch company founded in 2001 by Dominique Guenat and Richard Mille, and based in Les Breuleux, Switzerland. The brand specialises in ultra-high-end luxury watches. Company history Introduction After studying m ...

Felipe Massa Felipe Massa (, born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver. He competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between 2002 and 2017, where he scored 11 Grand Prix victories, 41 podiums and finished as championship runner-up in 2008 by one poin ...

collection watch while millions of Indonesians are living in poverty. Moeldoko stated that the watch is a Chinese-made fake replica and not a real one.

Personal life

General Moeldoko was born in Kediri, East Java as the youngest son in a family of twelve children. He attended an agricultural

vocational school A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks ...

in the town of Jombang in East Java and the joined the military academy in

Magelang Magelang () is one of six cities in Central Java that are administratively independent of the regencies in which they lie geographically. Each of these cities is governed by a mayor rather than a ''bupati''. Magelang city covers an area of 18. ...

Central Java Central Java ( id, Jawa Tengah) is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in t ...

. Gen. Moeldoko is married to Koesni Harningsih and has two children, Randy Bimantoro and Joanina Rachma.

Awards and distinctions

During his military career, General Moeldoko has received many awards and distinctions. The Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Tentera) was conferred to him by the President of Singapore

Tony Tan Keng Yam Tony Tan Keng Yam (; born 7 February 1940) is a Singaporean former politician who served as the seventh president of Singapore between 2011 and 2017. He did not seek for a second term as president in 2017 due to a constitutional amendment. ...

in recognition of his contributions in strengthening ties between the Indonesian and Singaporean armies.

Medals and decorations

File:Bintang Dharma.gif, Mil. Disting.
Service Star File:Pingat Jasa Gemilang ribbon (from 1996).png, Mil. Meritorious
Service Medal
(Singapore) File:Eka Paksi Pratama.gif, Def. Meritorious
Service Star File:Eka Paksi Nararya.gif, Army Meritorious
Service Star File:Satyalancanawiradharma.jpg, Malaysia/Borneo Mil.
Campaign Medal * Indonesia Military Distinguished Service Star.
( Bintang Dharma) * Singapore military Meritorious Service Medal.
(

Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Tentera) The Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Tentera) ( eng, Meritorious Service Medal (Military)) is a decoration awarded to members of the Singapore Armed Forces for exceptionally distinguished performance or extraordinary service, or the furtherance of links wi ...

) * National Police Meritorious Service Star. ( Bintang Bhayangkara) * Defence Meritorious Service Star – 2nd Class.
( Bintang Yudha Dharma) * Army Meritorious Service Star – 2nd Class.
( Bintang Kartika Eka Paksi Pratama) * Defence Meritorious Service Star – 3rd Class.
( Bintang Yudha Dharma) * Army Meritorious Service Star – 3rd Class.
( Bintang Kartika Eka Paksi) * Dharma Santala Medal. * Medals of 24 years, 16 years, 8 years of loyalty service.

Foreign honour

* : Honorary Commander of the

Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia The Most Esteemed Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia ( ms, Darjah Yang Mulia Setia Mahkota Malaysia) is a Malaysian federal award presented for meritorious service to the country and awarded by the sovereign. The order was instituted on ...

(P.S.M.) (2015)

References

External links

National Portal Republic of Indonesia

Official website of Indonesian Armed Forces

A US-Indonesia Partnership for 2020

Military Politics, Ethnicity and Conflict in Indonesia
, - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Moeldoko, Moeldoko Indonesian generals Working Cabinet (Joko Widodo) Commanders of the Indonesian National Armed Forces Honorary Commanders of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia 1957 births Living people People from Kediri (city) People's Conscience Party politicians