Yani, Ahmad

Ahmad Yani was born on June 19, 1922 in the central Javanese village of Jenar, in the family of Sarjo bin Suharyo ( indon. Sarjo bin Suharyo ) and Murtini ( indon. Murtini ) ^[1] ; at the time of Ahmad’s birth, his father was a worker at a sugar factory in Wongsoreggio ^[2] . In 1927, the Yani family moved to Batavia (now Jakarta ), where Wongsoreggio got a job as a servant of the General of the Royal Dutch East Indies Army ( KNIL ; Dutch. Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger, KNIL ). Living in Batavia, Yani was educated in the neighboring city of Beitensorg (now Bogor ), graduating there from elementary (1935) and secondary (1938) schools and enrolling in high school ^[1] .

In 1940, he had to leave the second grade of high school, as he was called up to the ranks of the KNIL. In military service, Yani studied military topography in Malang and Bogor, he was awarded the rank of sergeant . However, his training was interrupted by the invasion of Japanese troops in Indonesia ^[1] .

During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia , the Yani family returned to Central Java. In 1943, Yani joined the PETA militia ( indon. PETA , from indon. Pe mbela T anah A ir - "Defenders of the Fatherland"), created by the Japanese administration from among the Indonesians. Together with other PETA soldiers, he studied at the military school of Magelang . After graduation, Yani expressed a desire to continue his studies, after which he was sent first to Bogor , where he was trained as a platoon commander, and then again to Magelang - this time as a teacher ^[1] .

After the independence of Indonesia was declared in 1945 , Ahmad Yani enlisted in the army of the young state , becoming the commander of the troops in Purwokerto ^[1] . In the first months of the Revolutionary War, he distinguished himself in the battles of Magelang; The battalion that he commanded participated in the liberation of the city from British troops ^[3] . Later, Yani commanded the Indonesian forces that successfully defended Magelang from the Dutch ^[1] . In early 1949, under the leadership of Yani, several successful partisan operations against the Dutch were carried out: they created favorable conditions for one of the largest military operations of the war of independence - the return of Yogyakarta , the temporary capital of Indonesia occupied by Dutch troops ^[1] .

After the end of the war of independence, Yani was sent to serve in the central Javanese city ​​of Tegal . In 1952, he led a group of special forces called the Banteng Raiders : this group was created to fight the rebels of the Darul Islam group of Russians , striving to build an Islamic state in Indonesia. In the next three years, the Banteng Raiders managed to completely defeat the forces of Darul Islam ^{[1] [4]} .

In December 1955, Yani was sent abroad, where he studied at the command and staff college Fort Leavenworth ( Kansas , USA ); He also completed military training in the UK ^[1] . After returning to Indonesia in 1956, he was appointed a member of the General Staff of the National Army of Indonesia, and then became Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army Abdul Haris Nasution for Logistics ^[1] .

In August 1958, Yani commanded an operation to defeat the troops of the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia (RPRI) in West Sumatra , known as Operation August 17 ( Eng. Operation August 17 ). Under his command, the government army was able to defeat the rebels ^[1] . On June 23, 1962, Yani replaced Nasution as chief of staff of the ground forces; Having occupied this position, he automatically joined the cabinet ^[5] .

In the early 1960s, Yani was a figure close to President Sukarno , and had great personal devotion to the latter. According to eyewitnesses, he belongs to the following statement: “Anyone who dares to step on the shadow of Bung Karno will first have to step over my corpse” ( indon. Siapa yang berani menginjak bayang-bayang Bung Karno, harus terlebih dahulu melangkahi mayat saya ) ^{[1 ]} . At the same time, like most senior army officers, Yani opposed the growing influence of the Communist Party of Indonesia , which enjoyed some support from the president. On May 31, 1965, Yani and Nasution received orders from Sukarno to put the army on alert, but deliberately delayed its implementation ^[1] .

On the night of September 30 to October 1, 1965, a left-wing military group known as the September 30 Movement, consisting mainly of junior officers, attempted a coup d'etat . By order of the leaders of the Movement, the abduction of representatives of the high army command was organized, including Ahmad Yani ^[6] .

Jani's house was located in the Jakarta suburb of Menteng (now within the boundaries of Jakarta), on Jalan Latuhahari street, 6 ( indon. Jalan Latuhahary, 6 ). According to the recollection of Yayu Rulia Sutoviryo Ahmad Yani ( indon. Yayu Rulia Sutowiryo Ahmad Yani ), the general’s wives, usually eleven servicemen guarded their house, but a week before the attempted coup, the guards were strengthened - six more soldiers were allocated to protect the family of the chief of staff. Later it turned out that these soldiers served in the regiment of Colonel Latif, one of the leaders of the September 30 Movement, and, according to his wife Yani, they were not at their posts on the night of October 1. At about 9 p.m. on September 30, telephone calls began to be heard at the Jani family home; the voice on the other end of the wire was either silent or asking what time it was. Calls continued until one in the morning. About 23 hours, the wife of Yani left to celebrate her birthday with friends and relatives, left her husband and children at home; later, she said that, leaving home, she noticed silhouettes of people in nearby bushes: this made her think that there was external monitoring of the house. By this time, the general’s house was indeed under the supervision of a group of rebels of about 200 people who surrounded him ^[6] .

Upon entering the house, the rebels announced to the general that he should immediately appear to President Sukarno, in response to which Yani asked to let him wash and change his clothes. Having been refused, Yani lost his temper by striking one of the soldiers, and demanded that the rebels immediately leave his house. After that, the rebels opened fire, as a result of which the general was killed on the spot ^[6] .

The body of Yani, along with the bodies of other soldiers who were abducted and killed by order of the leaders of the September 30 Movement, was taken away by rebels on the outskirts of Jakarta, Lubang Buaya ( indon. Lubang Buaya - literally " crocodile pit "). There, along with the bodies of other victims of the conspirators, it was thrown into a dry well. The bodies of the dead were recovered from the well only on October 4, after the defeat of the rebellion ^[6] .

The body of Yani, along with the bodies of other killed soldiers, was reburied on October 5 with state honors at the in the same region of Jakarta . On the same day, Yani and his colleagues killed by the rebels, the presidential decree number 111 / KOTI / 1965 was posthumously awarded the honorary title of ; by the same decree, Yani was posthumously promoted to the rank of four-star general. In 2009, the title of Hero of the Indonesian Revolution was equated with the highest honorary title of the country - the National Hero of Indonesia ^[7] .

The house where Ahmad Yani lived and was killed was turned into a museum called " Sasmita Loka Ahmad Yani ." Streets in several cities of Indonesia, the airport of Semarang city ^[8] , and frigate are named after Yani The Indonesian Navy (by the name of the latter is also a type of frigate, the former Dutch Van Speake ), as well as one of the universities of Jakarta ^[9] .

The daughter of the general, Amelia Ahmad Yani ( indone. Amelia Achmad Yani ), who later became an entrepreneur and politician, wrote a biography of her father, "Ahmad Yani: A Victim for the Revolution" ( indone. Achmad Yani: Tumbal Revolusi ).

State Awards of Indonesia ^[10] :

• Order “Star of the Republic of Indonesia” 2nd degree ( indon. Bintang Republuk Indonesia Kelas II , 1965) ^{[10] [11]} ;
• Order “Star of the Republic of Indonesia” 3rd degree ( indon. Bintang Republuk Indonesia Kelas III , 1963) ^[12]
• Order of the Sacred Star ( indon. Bintang Sakti );
• Order of the Partisan Star ( indon. Bintang Gerilya );
• Order “8 Years of Independence” 1st and 2nd degree ( indon. Bintang Sewindu Kemerdekaan I dan II );
• Medal "For Faithful Service" ( indon. Satyalancana Kesetiaan );
• Medal "For Service in Military Operations" 1st and 6th degree ( indon. Satyalancana Gerakan Operasi Militer I dan VI );
• Medal "Sapta Marga" ( indon. Satyalancana Sapta Marga ; for the suppression of the uprising under the leadership of the RPRI);
• Medal of Western Irian ( indon. Satyalancana Irian Barat ; for the liberation of Western Irian).

Foreign state awards ^[10] :

• Order of the Yugoslav People’s Army with a gold star (1958).

• 30 Tahun Indonesia Merdeka: Jilid 3 (1965-1973). - Jakarta: Sekretariat Negara Republik Indonesia, 1975.
• Ahmad Yani. - Bandung: Dinas Sejarah Angkatan Darat, 2013.
• Album Pahlawan Bangsa. - Jakarta: Mutiara Sumber Widya, 1999.
• Bachtiar ,, Harsja W. Siapa Dia ?: Perwira Tinggi Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Darat (Who is S / He ?: Senior Officers of the Indonesian Army). - Jakarta: Penerbit Djambatan, 1988 .-- ISBN 979-428-100-X .
• Dinas Sejarah Angkatan Darat. Profil Kepala Staf Angkatan Darat. - Bandung, 2011.
• Hughes ,, John. The End of Sukarno - A Coup that Misfired: A Purge that Ran Wild. - New-York: Archipelago Press, 2002 .-- ISBN 981-4068-65-9 .
• Pour, Julius. Gerakan 30 September Pelaku, Pahlawan dan Petualang. - Jakarta: Kompas Media Nusantara, 2010.
• Gerakan 30 September Pemberontakan Partai Komunis Indonesia: Latar Belakang, Aksi dan Penumpasannya. - Jakarta: Sekretariat Negara Republik Indonesia, 1994.
• Ricklefs ,, MC A History of Modern Indonesia since c. 1300. 2nd Edition. - Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991. - ISBN 0-333-57690-X .
• Simanjuntak ,, PHH Kabinet-Kabinet Republik Indonesia: Dari Awal Kemerdekaan Sampai Reformasi. - Jakarta: Penerbit Djambatan, 2003 .-- ISBN 979-428-499-8 .
• Sudarmanto ,, YB Jejak-Jejak Pahlawan dari Sultan Agung hingga Syekh Yusuf. - Jakarta: Penerbit Grasindo, 1996 .-- ISBN 979-553-111-5 .
• Yani ,, Amelia. Achmad Yani: Tumbal Revolusi: [] . - Jakarta: Galang Press, 2007 .-- ISBN ISBN 978-979-23-9992-9 .