Sumitro

Sumitro (13 January 1927 – 10 May 1998) was a prominent Indonesian General in the early years of General Suharto's New Order before suddenly falling from grace in January 1974 after the Malari incident.

Sumitro was born in Probolinggo, East Java on 13 January 1927. His father worked as a cashier for the Gending Sugar Factory and was also an activist with the Indonesian National Party whilst his mother was a housewife. As a child, Sumitro grew up at a Pesantren. During the Japanese Occupation of Indonesia, Sumitro joined the Defenders of the Motherland Army (PETA), an auxiliary force set up by the Japanese Imperial Army which consisted of Indonesians with the intention of assisting them should the United States invade Java. Sumitro undertook basic training in Bogor and developed a reputation as a cadet who regularly broke the rules. By 1944, Sumitro had achieved enough to have been appointed a PETA platoon commander at his hometown of Probolinggo.

After the Indonesian Declaration of Independence, Sumitro formed the People's Security Agency (BKR) militia in Probolinggo before becoming a platoon commander after the official formation of the Indonesian Military on 5 October 1945. By 1948, Sumitro was a Battalion Deputy Commander before being appointed military commander at the city of Malang. After Indonesia's independence had been recognized, Sumitro continued to be stationed in his home Province of East Java, which was now under the supervision of Military Territory (TT) V Brawijaya. Although he still did not have a lot of experience at this stage, Sumitro had already become quite successful. He had successfully applied a guerilla warfare strategy akin to what Orde Wingate did in Burma during the Indonesian National Revolution and he had also been successful in cleaning Sidoarjo, Mojokerto, and Pasuruan from wild militias. For the latter achievement, he was personally thanked by President Sukarno.

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