Oerip Soemohardjo General Oerip Soemohardjo ( Perfected Spelling : Urip Sumoharjo , 22 February 1893 – 17 November 1948 ) was an Indonesian general and the first chief of staff of the Indonesian National Armed Forces . Born in Purworejo , Dutch East Indies , Oerip was a mischievous child who exhibited leadership skills from an early age . His parents wanted him to follow in the steps of his maternal grandfather and become a regent , therefore after elementary school Oerip was sent to the School for Native Government Employees in Magelang . His mother died during his second year at the school , and Oerip left to undertake military training in Meester Cornelis , Batavia ( modern - day Jatinegara , Jakarta ) . After graduating in 1914 , he became a lieutenant in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army , the army of the Dutch colonial government . During almost 25 years of service he was stationed on three different islands and promoted several times , eventually becoming the highest - ranking native officer in the country . Oerip resigned from his position in about 1938 after a disagreement with the regent of Purworejo , where he had been stationed . He and his wife Rohmah then moved to a village near Yogyakarta , where they established a large flower garden and villa . After Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940 Oerip was recalled to active duty . When the Empire of Japan occupied the Indies less than two years later , Oerip was arrested and detained in a prisoner - of - war camp for three and a half months . He spent the rest of the occupation at his villa . On 14 October 1945 , several months after Indonesia proclaimed its independence , Oerip was declared the chief of staff and interim leader of the newly formed army . Working to build a united force from the fractured former military groups in the country , Oerip received little oversight owing to irregularities in the chain of command . On 12 November 1945 General Sudirman was selected as leader of the armed forces after two deadlocked votes . Oerip remained as chief of staff , and together the two oversaw almost three years of development during the Indonesian National Revolution , until disgusted by the political leadership ' s lack of trust in the army and ongoing political manoeuvrings , Oerip resigned in early 1948 . Already suffering from a weak heart , his health deteriorated and he died of a heart attack a few months later . A lieutenant general at the time , Oerip was posthumously promoted to full general . He received several awards from the Indonesian government , including the title National Hero of Indonesia in 1964 . Early life . Oerip Soemohardjo was born Mohammad Sidik ( " Little Muhammad " ) in his family ' s home in Sindurjan , Purworejo , Dutch East Indies ( a colony of the Netherlands ) , on 22 February 1893 . He was the first son born to Soemohardjo , a headmaster and son of a local Muslim leader , and his wife , the daughter of Raden Tumenggung Widjojokoesoemo , the regent of Trenggalek ; the family later had two more sons , Iskandar and Soekirno , as well as three daughters . The boys were raised partly by servants , and at a young age Sidik began showing leadership qualities , commanding groups of neighbourhood children in fishing and games of football . The brothers attended the school for Javanese headed by their father , and as a result received special treatment ; this led to them becoming complacent and frequently misbehaving . In his second year of school , Sidik fell from a candlenut tree and lost consciousness . After he awoke , his mother sent a letter to Widjojokoesoemo , who decided that Sidik ' s name was the cause of his misbehaviour . In reply , Widjojokoesoemo wrote that Sidik should be renamed Oerip , which means " alive " . When he recovered fully , his family decided that the newly renamed Oerip – who continued to misbehave – should study at the local Dutch School for Girls ( ) ; the schools for boys were full and they hoped that the girls ' school would improve Oerip ' s skill in Dutch , the language of the regime , as well as his temperament . After a year in the girls ' school , in which Oerip became calmer , he was sent to a Dutch - run school for boys . However , his academic results continued to be poor . Beginning in his final year of elementary school , he often visited his friend ' s father , an ex - soldier who had served in Aceh for twenty years , to listen to the old man ' s stories , which inspired Oerip to join the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army ( , or KNIL ) . After passing an exam for would - be state employees and several months of preparations , Oerip moved to Magelang in 1908 to attend the School for Native Government Employees ( , or OSVIA ) ; his parents intended for him to become a regent like his grandfather . The following year his brothers joined him . After his mother died in 1909 , Oerip sank into a months - long bout of depression and became withdrawn . After finishing the year at OSVIA , he decided to enrol at the military academy in Meester Cornelis , Batavia ( modern - day Jatinegara , Jakarta ) . He went there directly from Magelang , and told his brothers to inform their father , who disapproved of his son ' s choice . Soemohardjo initially attempted to bribe his son with 1 , 000 gulden to return to OSVIA , but eventually agreed to pay for Oerip ' s tuition . After his training , during which he found military life enjoyable , Oerip graduated from the academy in October 1914 and became a second lieutenant in the KNIL . KNIL . After several days visiting his father in Purworejo , Oerip returned to Meester Cornelis where he took up a posting to Battalion XII . Even though he was the smallest man in the unit and the only native , he was placed in a position of leadership . A year and half later he was sent to Banjarmasin , Borneo . After a period patrolling the jungles outside Puruk Cahu and Muara Tewe , he was sent to Tanah Grogot , followed by Balikpapan . While stationed there Oerip was promoted to first lieutenant but faced discrimination as a native in the Dutch forces . In Banjarmasin he had convinced his commander to strike an ordinance forbidding non - Dutch officers from joining the football team , and by 1917 Oerip had received equal legal status with Dutch officers . After Balikpapan Oerip was further sent to Samarinda , Tarakan , and ultimately Malinau . In Malinau , Oerip patrolled the border between the Dutch East Indies and the British - controlled Kingdom of Sarawak ( part of modern - day Malaysia ) ; he also worked to prevent conflicts and headhunting among Dayak tribes . One day , seven years after arriving in Borneo , Oerip returned from patrol to find his home had been burned down . Upon the recommendation of a passing doctor , Oerip went back to Java , via Tarakan and Surabaya , to Cimahi , where he spent several months in recovery for fatigue . Fully recovered , in 1923 Oerip was stationed in his hometown , Purworejo . In September 1925 Oerip was transferred to Magelang to serve in the ( Foot Marshalry ) , a gendarmerie . Initially known to avoid women and under pressure to marry quickly , in Magelang Oerip became involved with Rohmah Soebroto , the daughter of his former Javanese and Malay language teacher Soebroto and a distant relative of female emancipation figure Kartini . The pair were engaged on 7 May 1926 and married on 30 June of the same year . Also in Magelang , Oerip took on his father ' s name , which he used as a family name for dealing with the Dutch . Afterwards he began referring to himself by the full name of Oerip Soemohardjo , although others continued to call him Oerip . The year after his marriage , Oerip and his wife were stationed in Ambarawa , where Oerip was tasked with rebuilding a previously disbanded unit . While training local recruits in place of the Dutch commander who had yet to arrive , Oerip was promoted to captain . After the Dutch commander arrived , in July 1928 Oerip was given a year ' s leave , which he used to travel throughout Europe on a sightseeing trip with his wife . Upon his return to the Indies , he was stationed at Meester Cornelis . In Meester Cornelis , Oerip began running training exercises ; while stationed in Batavia , his father died . In 1933 , he was sent to Padang Panjang in Sumatra to deal with unrest that had already killed several Dutch officers . His time in Padang Panjang passed uneventfully , and in July 1935 he was given leave to go to Europe again . He was also promoted to major at that time , which made him the highest - ranking native officer in the KNIL . The following year , upon his return to the Indies , he was stationed in Purworejo . In mid - 1938 , after a disagreement with the local regent , Oerip was told to transfer to Gombong ; he refused , then left the KNIL and moved to his parents - in - law ' s home in Yogyakarta . Civilian life and Japanese occupation . In Yogyakarta , the unemployed Oerip took up orchid gardening . Soon after arriving , he and his wife bought a villa in Gentan , north of the city . Although the villa was small , the couple used its of land to open a large flower garden , with their income subsidised by Oerip ' s pension from the KNIL . At his villa , named KEM ( for , or " Purity and Bravery " ) , Oerip often received guests , both military and civilian , from whom he received information about current events and to whom he gave advice regarding military matters and politics . In 1940 , the pair adopted a four - year - old Dutch girl named Abby from an orphanage in Semarang . Shortly thereafter , on 10 May 1940 , when Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands , Oerip was recalled to active service . Three days after reporting to Colonel Pik in Magelang , he went to the KNIL headquarters in Bandung , where he was the first retired officer to report . Afterwards , he and his family – who had joined him – were transferred to Cimahi , where Oerip was tasked with establishing a new battalion depot . Several native officers were stationed in northern parts of the Indies during 1941 in preparation for an expected attack by the Empire of Japan , although Oerip stayed in Cimahi . After the Japanese occupied the Indies in early 1942 , Oerip was held in a mixed prisoner of war camp in Cimahi . Upon his release three and a half months later , Oerip refused an offer to form a new , Japanese - backed police force and returned to KEM , where he and his wife rented paddy field s to grow rice while continuing to operate their flower garden . To protect their land , they surrounded their property and home with a high bamboo fence . Although no longer active in the military , Oerip occasionally received former KNIL members , including Abdul Haris Nasution and Sunarmo , who brought news of events outside the village . The couple continued their work , harassed and surveilled by the Japanese and pro - Japanese Indonesians , until the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August 1945 signified that Japan would soon withdraw . It was during this period that Oerip began having heart problems . Indonesian National Revolution and death . After the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence on 17 August 1945 , Oerip and his family left KEM for Rohma ' s parents ' home in Yogyakarta . When the People ' s Safety Body ( , or BKR ) was formed on 23 August , Oerip led a group of military commanders who petitioned for it to be set up as a national military formation ; a separate group , led by politician Oto Iskandar di Nata , wanted the BKR to fulfil the functions of a police organisation . The political leadership , consisting of President Sukarno and Vice President Mohammad Hatta , agreed to a compromise : it became a police - style organisation , but most of its members had served in the military , either with the Defenders of the Homeland ( , or PETA ) or the Heihō . On 14 October 1945 – nine days after the Indonesian National Armed Forces was formally established – Oerip was declared its Chief of Staff and interim leader , and left immediately for Jakarta . In a cabinet meeting the following day , he was ordered to build a national army , headquartered in Yogyakarta , in preparation for an expected assault by Dutch troops coming to reclaim the Indies . He departed for Yogyakarta on 16 October , and arrived the following day . He first established the headquarters in a room at Hotel Merdeka , which he used until the Sultan of Yogyakarta Hamengkubuwono IX donated land and a building for the army to use . With the BKR scattered under independent leadership throughout the country , the newly formed People ' s Security Army ( or TKR , now known as the ) drew officers mainly from the native members of the former KNIL . However , these officers were poorly received by Indonesian nationalists , who viewed them as mercenaries for having served in the Dutch forces . Meanwhile , rank and file members of the TKR were drawn from numerous groups , including former PETA , current Pemuda ( young Indonesian revolutionaries ) , and the BKR . Although Oerip set out a command structure , in reality the army ' s hierarchy was provisional and depended heavily on the strength of local units . Following a government decree on 20 October Oerip became subordinate to both the acting Minister of Defence Soeljoadikoesoemo and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces Soeprijadi . However , neither man showed up to assume his duties . Soeprijadi , a PETA soldier who had led an uprising against Japanese forces in Blitar in February 1945 , was thought dead . While Soeljohadikosomo ' s position remained unfilled , the guerrilla leader Moestopo declared himself Minister of Defence . As such , Oerip had little oversight and felt pressured to quickly establish a stable command structure . On 2 November , he appointed leaders for military operations in various parts of the country : Didi Kartasasmita for western Java , Soeratman for central Java , Mohammad for eastern Java , and Soehardjo Hardjowardojo for Sumatra ; each of these sub - commanders was given the rank of major general . Oerip also began appropriating weapons to different TKR commands . He took confiscated Japanese weapons from well - equipped forces and distributed them as needed . However , the results were less successful than he had hoped . PETA had been organised locally during the Japanese occupation , and as such its members were unable to accept a centralised leadership . On 12 November 1945 , at the first general meeting of army leadership , General Sudirman – the leader of the Fifth Division in Purwokerto , who had two years military experience and was 23 years younger than Oerip – was elected leader of the army following two deadlocked votes . In the third round , Oerip had 21 votes to Sudirman ' s 22 . Divisional commanders from Sumatra , who had voted unanimously , swayed the vote in Sudirman ' s favour ; Oerip had lost votes because some of the division leaders distrusted his history with the KNIL and the oath he had taken to the Dutch motherland upon graduation . Although Sudirman was surprised at his selection and offered to surrender the leadership position to Oerip , the meeting did not allow it ; Oerip himself was glad to no longer be in charge of the army . Sudirman kept Oerip , by then a lieutenant general , to serve as chief of staff under him . While Sudirman remained unconfirmed , Oerip remained " de jure " leader ; however , the Indonesian journalist Salim Said writes that Oerip ' s orders were at times intelligible owing to the leader ' s poor command of Indonesian and often ignored unless approved by Sudirman . When the Sudirman was approved on 18 December , he began working to consolidate and unite the army ; meanwhile , Oerip handled day - to - day organisational and technical issues . Many of the details , such as company uniforms , he left to regional commanders . However , to deal with more important issues , such as establishing a military police and preventing enemy paratrooper s from landing , he passed edicts that applied nationally . Together , Sudirman and Oerip were able to address many of the differences between former KNIL and PETA troops . The government also renamed the army twice in January 1946 , first to the People ' s Salvation Army ( ) , then to the Army of the Republic of Indonesia ( , or TRI ) . On 23 February 1946 , Oerip was appointed head of the 11 - member Committee to Reorganise the Army ( ) , formed by presidential decree . After four months of discussion , on 17 May the committee gave its recommendations to Sukarno . Oerip was set to handle day - to - day operations of a downsized army , while the Ministry of Defence was given greater bureaucratic power . Sudirman was kept as leader of the army . As Minister of Defence Amir Sjarifuddin began establishing pro - leftist groups within the military , Oerip became distrustful of the political leadership and vehemently decried the government ' s attempts to use soldiers ' political affiliations to control the military . Still , he and Sudirman continued to work to ensure that paramilitary troops ( ) , which had arisen from the general populace , were included in the military . This was realised on 3 June 1947 , when the government declared the union of the laskar and TRI into a new military organisation , the Indonesian National Armed Forces ( , or TNI ) . Meanwhile , Oerip established a military academy in Yogyakarta . To meet the Dutch threat , Oerip intended to attack while the former colonists were still consolidating their forces , a plan that was quashed by the government ' s attempts at diplomacy . He preferred guerrilla tactics to formal military conflicts , once telling a subordinate that the best attack would be one with a hundred snipers hidden behind enemy lines . Oerip was strongly against the Renville Agreement , an ultimately unsuccessful treaty that led to the withdrawal of 35 , 000 troops from western Java and the formalisation of the Van Mook Line between Dutch and Indonesian forces . He saw the agreement , ratified on 17 January 1948 , as a stalling tactic , giving the Dutch the chance to strengthen their forces . Meanwhile , Amir Sjarifuddin – by then also serving as prime minister – began culling the army , predominantly keeping leftist - leaning troops . Disgusted with what he perceived as the government ' s lack of trust in the military , Oerip tendered his resignation , although he continued to serve as an advisor to the Minister of Defence , Vice President Hatta . After several months of growing steadily weaker and undergoing treatment from Dr Sim Ki Ay , on the evening of 17 November 1948 Oerip collapsed and died in his room in Yogyakarta after a heart attack . After a night - long viewing he was buried the next day in Semaki Heroes ' Cemetery and posthumously promoted to general . When Sudirman threatened to resign in 1949 , he blamed Oerip ' s death – as well as his own tuberculosis – on the government ' s inconsistency during the revolution . Oerip was survived by his wife and adopted daughter . Abby died of malaria in January 1951 , and Rohmah died on 29 October 1977 in Semarang ; she was buried in Ungaran . Legacy . Oerip received numerous awards from the national government posthumously , including the Bintang Sakti ( 1959 ) , Bintang Mahaputera ( 1960 ) , Bintang Republik Indonesia Adipurna ( 1967 ) , and Bintang Kartika Eka Pakçi Utama ( 1968 ) . On 10 December 1964 he was declared a National Hero of Indonesia through Presidential Decree 314 of 1964 . Sudirman was also declared a National Hero by the same decree . On 22 February 1964 the Indonesian military academy in Magelang dedicated a memorial to him , which described the military leader as " a son of Indonesia who valued work over words , who prioritised his Duty over his wants . " The academy ' s Catholic chapel also includes a dedication to him from 1965 , prompted by a discussion between Rohmah and a missionary friend of hers . Several streets are named after Oerip , including in his hometown of Purworejo , nearby Yogyakarta , and the capital at Jakarta .