Sudarmono

Sudarmono was born on March 12, 1927 in the East city ​​of . At the age of three, he lost both parents for six months, after which he moved to live with his uncle, who worked as a scribe in County.

In 1945 , when the independence of Indonesia was proclaimed, Sudarmono graduated from junior high school. Refusing to continue training, he joined the armed forces of the young state - the People’s Security Army, later renamed the National Army of Indonesia . During the war, he rose to the rank of division commander Rongolawe ( indon. Ronggolawe ).

In 1949 , after the end of the War of Independence , Sudarmono decided to complete his secondary education. In 1952 , after graduating from high school, he entered the military law academy, which he graduated in 1956 . In 1957 - 1961 he served as an army prosecutor in Medan . In 1962 he graduated from the Military Law University and defended his degree in law . After that, he was appointed chairman of the Central Government Personnel Management Service, which was responsible for providing administrative assistance to the government.

During the Indonesian-Malaysian confrontation, President Sukarno created the High Operational Command, the EQA ( indon. Komando Operasi Tertinggi, KOTI ), which was directly subordinate to him. Sudarmono was appointed Deputy Head of the Fifth Division of the EQA and included in the Joint Operations Center Command. Its competence included issues related to the preparation and conduct of operations of special importance.

In October 1965, Major General Suharto was appointed commander in chief of the army and chief of staff of the wok; subsequently quite close relations were established between him and Sudarmono. On March 11, 1966, Sukarno signed a decree known as ( ind. Supersemar , from ind. Su rat Per intah Se belas Mar et - Decree of March 11 ), according to which Suharto received the right to act on behalf of the president. Sudarmono was distributing copies of the decree among the officers of the army. He also participated in the preparation of the decree signed by Suharto on behalf of the president the next day, March 12 , on the ban of the Communist Party of Indonesia ^[1] .

In 1968, Suharto officially took over as president of Indonesia; Soon after, Sudarmono was appointed secretary of the cabinet and chairman of the Council for Economic Stability. In 1970, he was transferred to the post of Secretary of State, helping the president in the daily work of the government. While working in this position for a short time, he was also the acting Minister of Information and the Minister of Internal Affairs, participated in the preparation of the report of Suharto to the People’s Consultative Congress (NCC).

In 1980, the president gave Sudarmono, as Secretary of State, the right to control public procurement for amounts in excess of 500 billion rupees .

In 1983, Sudarmono, who had proved his loyalty to Suharto more than once, was elected chairman of the pro-government bloc Golkar . As chairman of the bloc, he repeatedly made inspection trips to the regions of Indonesia to monitor the activities of the local branches of Golkar. Under the leadership of Sudarmono, Golcar managed to increase the number of votes cast for him in , to 73%, compared with 64% in previous elections; in addition, for the first time in its existence, Golkar won the election in the special district (now province) Aceh .

In March 1988 , when the NCC convened a general session to elect the president of Indonesia for the next five-year term, the Indonesian public had no doubt that Suharto would be re-elected as president. In this regard, the main intrigue of the session was connected with the name of the new vice president of the country. Prior to this, Suharto has repeatedly stated that he would like to see the vice president of a person who enjoys the support of most of the country's socio-political forces. At the same time, he never called Sudarmono by name, however, in Indonesian society, it was Sudarmono who was considered the most likely successor to the current vice president Umar Virahadikusuma .

Despite the fact that Sudarmono had many years of service in the Armed Forces , his candidacy did not enjoy support in military circles. This was due to the fact that Sudarmono spent most of his military career at headquarters posts. Shortly before the appointment of Sudarmono, the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Leonardus Benjamin Murdani (better known as Benny Murdani - indon. Benny Moerdani ), who opposed the appointment of Sudarmono, was replaced by General Three Sutrino , who was more loyal to the new vice president.

Golkar’s leadership and all organizations and functional groups that were part of this bloc unanimously approved Sudarmono’s candidacy. However, many representatives of the Indonesian generals, including Murdani, continued to oppose his appointment. Murdani, in particular, said that he would like to see Three Sutrisno as vice president ^[2] .

During the NCC general session, at which Sudarmono was elected, his candidacy was criticized several times by the session participants. Brigadier General Ibrahim Saleh ( indon. Ibrahim Saleh ), speaking from the rostrum reserved for the army in the NCC, began to make sharp attacks on Sudarmono, as a result of which the meeting was suspended, and Saleh himself was removed from the rostrum. Then he refused both deputy mandates - a deputy of the Council of People's Representatives (SOR) and a member of the NCC - in protest against the election of Sudarmono, General ( indon. Sarwo Edhie Wibowo ), who supported Suharto when he first came to power in mid-1960s. Finally, the chairman of the Party of Unity and Development, Jaelani Naro ( indonesia. Jaelani Naro ), put forward his candidacy for the post of vice president.

Such an ambiguous reaction of the NCC members to the candidacy of Sudarmono forced Suharto to intervene in the course of events. He stated that since, according to the decision of the NCC in 1973, one of the requirements for the vice president is the ability to work together with the president, he considers Sudarmono an ideal candidate for this post and asks to support his decision. During negotiations with Naro, the president managed to convince him to withdraw his candidacy, and Sudarmono, as the only candidate, was elected vice president.

At the new post, Sudarmono was actively engaged in public activities, in particular, regularly made working trips to the regions of Indonesia. He also opened a special mailbox in which any Indonesian could put his letter to the government with suggestions for his work, or with complaints of violations of the law. Under Sudarmono, control over the activities of the state bureaucracy was somewhat tightened.

The army command continued to express its dissatisfaction with the candidacy of Sudarmono. At the Golkar Congress in October 1988, at the initiative of military circles that had a tremendous influence in the bloc, Sudarmono was removed from his post as chairman of Golkar; Vakhono became his successor. The press, controlled by the command of the Armed Forces, launched a campaign to discredit the vice president, who, in particular, was accused of sympathy for communism . Finally, in March 1993 , before the new vice-presidential elections, the military proposed Suharto for approval the candidacy of Three Sutrisno, without waiting for the president to make his own choice. Historian in his book Suharto: A Political Biography puts forward a theory that the military’s reaction to Sudarmono’s candidacy could have been caused by as a possible successor to Suharto in the event of his death or resignation ^[3] .

In 1997, Sudarmono released his autobiography, titled “ Experience Gained During Service ” ( indon. Pengalaman Dalam Masa Pengabdian ). At the same time, the book “ Impressions and Memoirs of Colleagues: 70 Years of Sudarmono ” ( indonesia. Kesan dan Kenangan dari Teman: 70 Tahun H. Sudharmono SH ) was published , in which people who worked with the former vice president expressed their opinions about him. Due to the fact that these two books were published a year before the NCC general session, scheduled for March 1998 - it, among other things, was supposed to hold the election of the president and vice-president - the version that Sudarmono was widely spread going to return to politics and again take the vice-presidency.

In May 1998, Sudarmono, Umar Virahadikusuma and Three Sutrisno met with Suharto at his residence, where they discussed various issues with him.

After his resignation, Sudarmono continued to manage the funds ( indon. Yayasan ) created by Suharto.

Sudarmono died on January 25, 2006 due to lung disease.

The wife of Sudarmono is Erma Norma ( indon. Erma Norma ). His family had three children.

• Order “Star of the Republic of Indonesia” 2nd degree (1993) ^[4] ;
• Order "Star of the Mahaputra" 1st degree.