Biography of Prabowo Subianto – Who doesn’t know the great figure of Prabowo Subianto? His name is always widely discussed in the world of politics and the military. Not only “mastering” the world of politics and the military, it turns out that he has carried out many important tasks in our country, both in the economic field and the Indonesian movement.
Then, who exactly is Prabowo Subianto? How was the progress of his career in the military world until finally he was in the world of politics? Let’s look at the following description!
Who is Prabowo Subianto?
General TNI (Purn.) H. Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo is the third child and first son who was born on October 17, 1951. His father was named Soemitro Djojohadikusumo who came from Kebumen, Central Java. Prabowo’s father was an economist and also a politician from the Indonesian Socialist Party, who at that time had just finished serving as Minister of Industry in the Natsir Cabinet in April 1952. Meanwhile, his mother was named Dora Marie Sigar, also known as Dora Soemitro. She is a Protestant Christian woman of Minahasa descent. His mother comes from the Maengkom family in Langowan, North Sulawesi.
After the birth of Prabowo Subianto, his father, Soemitro, was reappointed as Minister of Finance in the Wilopo Cabinet. Prabowo has two older sisters, named Biantiningsih Miderawati and Maryani Ekowati. He also has a younger brother named Hashim Djojohadikusumo. Prabowo is the grandson of Margono Djojohadikusumo, a founder of Bank Negara Indonesia and also the first Chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council.
The Djojohadikusumo family descended from Raden Tumenggung Kertanegara, who was the commander of the army of Prince Diponegoro. Prabowo’s name itself is a name taken from his uncle, Captain Soebianto Djojohadikusumo, who was an officer in the People’s Security Army who died in the Lengkong Battle in January 1964 in Tangerang.
Prabowo’s childhood was spent abroad, especially after his father’s involvement in opposing President Soekarno’s government in the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia in West Sumatra. Prabowo completed his secondary studies at the Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Zurich International School in Zurich, Switzerland; and The American School in London, England. After the fall of Sukarno and the rise of Suharto, the Soemitro family returned to the Indonesian state. Then Prabowo entered the Military Academy in Magelang, Central Java.
In May 1983, Prabowo married Siti Hediati Hariyadi who was the daughter of President Suharto and Tien Soeharto. Prabowo and Siti Hediati were blessed with a son, namely Ragowo Hediprasetyo or Didiet. However, their marriage did not last long. Shortly after the New Order collapsed, the two separated in 1998. Their son, Didiet, grew up in Boston, United States of America and chose a profession as a designer based in Paris, France.
Prabowo Subianto’s Military Career
Prabowo Subianto is an Indonesian politician, businessman and high-ranking military officer. Prabowo was educated and had a career in the military for 28 years. It all started in 1976, when he started his military career in the Indonesian Army as a Second Lieutenant after graduating from the Military Academy in Magelang. From 1976 to 1985 Prabowo served in the Sandi Yudha Troop Command or Kopassandha which at that time was the Army’s special forces. One of his first assignments was as a platoon commander in Group I/Para Command which was part of the Nanggala operations force in East Timor.
At the age of 26, Prabowo became one of the youngest Platoon Commanders in operation. He played a major role in leading a mission to arrest Nicolau dos Reis Lobato , who was a Fretilin leader who served as Prime Minister during Operation Seroja . In 1985, Prabowo became deputy commander of the 328th Airborne Infantry Battalion. In 1991, Prabowo served as Chief of staff of the 17th Airborne Infantry Brigade headquartered in Cijantung.
In 1993, Prabowo returned to the Special Forces which is now called the Special Forces Command or Kopassus. Prabowo was appointed Commander of Group 3/Sandi Yudha, which is one of the Kopassus counter-insurgency Commands. Afterwards, Prabowo served as deputy commanding officer under the leadership of Brigadier General Agum Gumelar and Brigadier General Subagyo Hadi Siswoyo.
December 1995, Prabowo was appointed commander of the Kopassus General with the rank of Major General. One of his first assignments was the operation to free Mapenduma hostages. On March 20, 1998, Prabowo was appointed Commander of the Army Strategic Reserves Command with the position held by his father-in-law.
Prabowo oversees around 11 thousand ABRI reserve troops. Prabowo asked the Commander of the Armed Forces General Wiranto to be allowed to deploy his reservists from outside Jakarta to help quell the riots in May 1998. Although this request was ultimately refused by Wiranto, Prabowo allegedly flew hundreds of people who had been trained by the Kopassus unit under his supervision to Timor Leste from Dili to Yogyakarta, and then to Jakarta by train. On May 14, Prabowo met with several reformers such as Adnan Buyung Nasution and Bambang Widjojanto to discuss the current situation.
On May 21, 1998, President Soeharto announced his resignation and was replaced by Habibie who was directly inaugurated on the same day. In the afternoon, Prabowo met Habibie and asked him to appoint Prabowo as Armed Forces Commander to replace Wiranto. But Habibie dismissed Prabowo from his post as commander of Kostrad.
Prabowo met Suharto after being removed from office, but Prabowo’s father-in-law did not support him. Finally, Prabowo was assigned as Commander of the Armed Forces Staff and Command School in Bandung, replacing Lieutenant General Arie J. Kumaat. On July 14, 1998, the Armed Forces Commander formed the Officer Honorary Council which was chaired by General Subagyo Hadi Siswoyo along with 6 other lieutenant generals, namely: Fachrul Razi (Deputy Chair), Djamari Chaniago (secretary), Arie J. Kumaat, Agum Gumelar, Susilo Bambanv Yudhoyono, and Yusuf Kartanegara.
This council examines Prabowo on 7 points of accusation; one of which is deliberately making mistakes in task analysis, carrying out and controlling operations in the context of national stability which are not under his authority, but are the authority of the Pangab, not involving organic staff in staff procedures, control and supervision, and often going abroad without permission from the Kasad or Commander
During the trial, Prabowo claimed he was a prisoner of war protected by the Geneva Conventions and frequently exercised his right to remain silent, frustrating assembly members who already had to wear bulletproof vests. Prabowo was tried based on the Criminal Code and the Military Criminal Code.
DKP found Prabowo guilty and committed the crime of disobedience (Article 103 of the Military Criminal Code); order the deprivation of another person’s freedom (Article 55 (1) 2nd of the Military Criminal Code and Article 333 of the Criminal Code), and kidnapping (Article 55 (1) 2nd and Article 328 of the Criminal Code). Prabowo’s dismissal from military service caused controversy during the 2009 general election, when Gerindra politician Fadli Zon denied that Prabowo was sacked, but was “respectably discharged”.
Prabowo Subianto’s Business Career
After Prabowo left the military career, he chose to follow his younger brother’s career to become a businessman. In the business world Prabowo owns and leads 27 companies in Indonesia and also abroad. Prabowo became president and CEO of PT Tidar Kerinci Agung which is engaged in palm oil production, then PT Nusantara Energy which is engaged in oil and gas, mining, agriculture, forestry and pulp, and also PT Jaladri Nusantara which is engaged in fisheries.
His career started with buying Kiani Kertas , a paper mill management company located in Mangkajang, East Kalimantan. Previously, Kiani Kertas was owned by Bob Hasan, a businessman close to President Soeharto. Prabowo also bought Kiani Kertas using a loan worth Rp. 1.8 trillion. The name Kiani Kertas was changed by Prabowo to Kertas Nusantara . The Nusantara Group group of companies owned by Prabowo also controls twenty-seven domestic and foreign companies. The business owned by Prabowo is engaged in plantations, mining, palm oil and coal.
In 2011, it was reported that PT Kertas Nusantara had 161 creditors consisting of 136 concurrent creditors, 18 special creditors and 7 separatist creditors. Based on the verification by the Business Competition Supervisory Commission, at that time, Kertas Nusantara’s total debt reached Rp 14.31 trillion. On June 9 2011, the Central Jakarta Commercial Court ordered PT Kertas Nusantara to pay a debt of Rp. 142 billion to PT Multi Alphabet as one of the creditors within forty-five days, if not, Kertas Nusantara is in danger of being declared bankrupt. On July 22, 2011, PT Kertas Nusantara survived the threat of bankruptcy after 89% of creditors agreed to provide an extension of time for debt payments.
On January 20 2015, PT Kertas Nusantara was again hit by problems because around 600 employees of PT Kertas Nusantara in Berau Regency, East Kalimantan held a demonstration demanding salaries that had not been paid for 5 months. However, this news was directly denied by Indra Alam. He felt he had never made a statement that he had invited workers to demonstrate at the HI Roundabout and boycott Prabowo in the election. The management of PT Kertas Nusantara has also confirmed that the salary payable problem has been resolved since March 2014. Director of PT Kertas Nusantara Winson Pola never apologized and explained that this was due to financial difficulties because the factory was not operating at full capacity in mid 2013 .
Prabowo Subianto’s Political Career
Prabowo Subianto’s political career began when he was about to run as a candidate for the Indonesian presidency from the Golkar Party at the 2004 Golkar Candidate Convention. Even though he passed, in the end Prabowo lost the vote to Wiranto.
Together with his younger brother, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, former student activist Fadli Zon and former Deputy V of the State Intelligence Agency for Fundraising Affairs Muchdi Purwoprandjono and a number of other names, on February 6 2008 founded the Great Indonesia Movement Party or Gerindra. In the Gerindra party, Prabowo serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Central Leadership Council (DPP). The Gerindra Party won 4,646,406 votes (4.46%) and placed twenty-six representatives in the DPR RI in the Indonesian Legislative Elections in 2009.
On May 9, 2008, the Gerindra Party expressed its desire to nominate Prabowo as a presidential candidate in the 2009 elections. However, after a difficult bidding process, Prabowo finally agreed to become Megawati Soekarnoputri’s presidential candidate. The two signed a Slate Agreement stating that:
1. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and Gerindra Party nominated Megawati as a presidential candidate and Prabowo as a vice presidential candidate in the 2009 elections.
2. If both are elected, Prabowo can control Indonesia’s economic programs and policies.
3. Prabowo can determine who will later become Minister of Forestry, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Finance, Minister of Industry, Minister of Manpower and also Transmigration, Minister of Law and Human Rights, and also Minister of Defence.
4. The government formed will support the PDI Perjuangan populist program and also the eight action programs from the Gerindra Party for the prosperity of the people.
5. Funding for elections will be shared.
6. Megawati will support Prabowo’s candidacy as a presidential candidate for the 2014 election.
In the 2009 presidential election, Prabowo became the richest vice presidential candidate. Prabowo has total assets of Rp. 1.579 trillion and $7.57 million, including 84 special horses some of which cost up to 3 billion each and a number of luxury cars. This wealth is 160 times the wealth reported in 2003.
The results of a quick count from the Indonesian Survey Institute, the Indonesian Survey Circle, the Institute for Economic and Social Research, Education and Information, the Center for Policy Studies and Strategic Development, CIRUS, the Information Research Institute, and Quick Count Metro TV, predict that the Megawati-Prabowo pair will lose badly from the pair Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Boediono. The results of the KPU Manual calculations announced on 25 July 2009 were not much different from the quick count results.
In the 2014 presidential election, the Great Indonesia Movement Party stated that it would nominate Prabowo as Indonesia’s presidential candidate. Prabowo stated that he is ready to be nominated as president. Although several survey institutions noted that Prabowo’s electability was the highest when compared to other presidential candidates. Not even a few political observers believe that Prabowo’s move will be hindered by the very low electability of the Great Indonesia Movement Party.
In the 2014 legislative elections, based on Kompas quick calculations until April 9 2014, Gerindra won third place by winning 11.58%, while PDIP won 19.52% and Golkar won 15.22%. Prabowo Subianto presents ” Six Nation Transformation Action Programs“. In his campaign, Prabowo stated that if he was elected President of the Republic of Indonesia, Prabowo wanted to build a strong, sovereign, just and prosperous economy, implement a people’s economy, build food and energy sovereignty and monitor water resources, improve the quality of Indonesian human development through education, health, social and cultural affairs, as well as building infrastructure and preserving nature and the environment, as well as building a government that is free from corruption, strong, firm and effective.
In the presidential election, Prabowo ran again by collaborating with Sandiaga Uno as his running mate. However, victory was not in his favor. On October 23, 2019, Prabowo was appointed as the 26th Minister of Defense of the Republic of Indonesia in the Advanced Indonesia Cabinet for the 2019 to 2024 period.
Prabowo Subianto was born not from random people, from a young age he was involved in the world of military, business and politics. If Sinaumed’s wants to know more about Prabowo Subianto, Sinaumed’s can read the book and get the book which is available at www.sinaumedia.com . As #FriendsWithoutLimits we try to give our best!
Author: Yufi Cantika Sukma Divine
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