page_title: Suharto
section_title: Post-Independence military career
hierarchical_section_title: Suharto / Military career / Post-Independence military career
caption_attribution_description: Bahasa Indonesia: Mantan Presiden Suharto dan istrinya Siti Hartinah dengan putra dan putri mareka. Baris depan kiri-kanan: Hutomo Mandala Putra (lahir 12 Agustus 1962), Presiden Soeharto, Siti Hutami Endang Adiningsih (lahir 23 Agustus 1964), Siti Hartinah, dan Siti Hediati Hariyadi (lahir 14 April 1959). Baris belakang kiri-kanan: Bambang Trihatmodjo (lahir 23 Juli 1953), Siti Hardiyanti Hastuti (lahir 23 Januari 1949), dan Sigit Harjojudanto (lahir 1 Mei 1951). English: Ex-President Suharto and his wife Siti Hartinah with their sons and daughters. Front row: Hutomo Mandala Putra (born 12 August 1962), President Suharto, Siti Hutami Endang Adiningsih (born 23 August 1964), Siti Hartinah, and Siti Hediati Hariyadi (born 14 April 1959). Back row: Bambang Trihatmodjo (born 23 July 1953), Siti Hardiyanti Hastuti (born 23 January 1949), and Sigit Harjojudanto (born 1 May 1951). Русский: Президент Индонезии Сухарто и его жена Сити Хартинах со своими сыновьями и дочерьми. Передний ряд: Хутомо Мандала Путра, Сухарто, Сити Хутами Энданг Адинингсих, Сити Хартинах и Сити Хедиати Харияди. Задний ряд: Бамбанг Трихатмоджо, Сити Хардиянти Хастути и Сигит Харджоджуданто.
context_page_description: Suharto was an Indonesian military leader and politician who served as the second president of Indonesia, holding the office for 31 years, from the ousting of Sukarno in 1967 until his resignation in 1998. He was widely regarded by foreign observers as a dictator. However, the legacy of his 31-year rule, and his US$ 38 billion net worth is still debated at home and abroad.
  Suharto was born in a small village, Kemusuk, in the Godean area near the city of Yogyakarta, during the Dutch colonial era. He grew up in humble circumstances. His Javanese Muslim parents divorced not long after his birth, and he lived with foster parents for much of his childhood. During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, Suharto served in Japanese-organised Indonesian security forces. Indonesia's independence struggle saw his joining the newly formed Indonesian Army. Suharto rose to the rank of major general following Indonesian independence.
  An attempted coup on 30 September and 1 October 1965, which according to the official history made by the army, was backed by the Communist Party of Indonesia, was "countered" by Suharto-led troops.
context_section_description: In the years following Indonesian independence, Suharto served in the Indonesian National Army, primarily in Java. In 1950, as a colonel, he led the Garuda Brigade in suppressing the Makassar Uprising, a rebellion of former colonial soldiers who supported the Dutch-established State of East Indonesia and its federal entity, the United States of Indonesia. During his year in Makassar, Suharto became acquainted with his neighbours, the Habibie family, whose eldest son BJ Habibie was later Suharto's vice-president, and went on to succeed him as president. In 1951–1952, Suharto led his troops in defeating the Islamic-inspired rebellion of Battalion 426 in the Klaten area of Central Java. Appointed to lead four battalions in early 1953, he organised their participation in battling Darul Islam insurgents in northwestern Central Java and anti-bandit operations in the Mount Merapi area. He also sought to stem leftist sympathies amongst his troops. His experience in this period left Suharto with a deep distaste for both Islamic and communist radicalism.
  Between 1956 and 1959, he served in the important position of commander of Diponegoro Division based in Semarang, responsible for Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces. His relationship with prominent businessmen Liem Sioe Liong and Bob Hasan, which extended throughout his presidency, began in Central Java, where he was involved in a series of "profit-generating" enterprises conducted primarily to keep the poorly funded military unit functioning. Army anti-corruption investigations implicated Suharto in a 1959 smuggling scandal. Relieved of his position, he was transferred to the army's Staff and Command School (Seskoad) in the city of Bandung. While in Bandung, he was promoted to brigadier-general, and in late 1960, promoted to army deputy chief of staff. On 6 March 1961, he was given an additional command, as head of the army's new Strategic Reserve (Korps Tentara I Cadangan Umum AD, later KOSTRAD), a ready-reaction air-mobile force based in Jakarta.
  In January 1962, Suharto was promoted to the rank of major general and appointed to lead Operation Mandala, a joint army-navy-air force command based in Makassar. This formed the military side of the campaign to win western New Guinea from the Dutch, who were preparing it for its own independence, separate from Indonesia. In 1965, Suharto was assigned operational command of Sukarno's Konfrontasi, against the newly formed Malaysia. Fearful that Konfrontasi would leave Java thinly covered by the army, and hand control to the 2 million-strong Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), he authorised a Kostrad intelligence officer, Ali Murtopo, to open secret contacts with the British and Malaysians.
caption: Suharto with his wife and six children in 1967
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