Amirmachmud

Amirmachmud was an Indonesian politician and military general who was an eyewitness to the signing of the Supersemar document, which transferred power from President Sukarno to General Suharto. He was born on 21 February 1923 in Cimahi, West Java. He was the second of five siblings and his father worked for a public company under the Dutch colonial government. He studied at the Dutch-language school and later at the medical school in Batavia (now Jakarta). He took a topography course in 1941, but he did not finish it due to the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in 1942. He joined the Defenders of the Homeland (PETA), an auxiliary force established by the Japanese to mobilize the Indonesian people for their war effort. He remained a member of PETA until 1945, when Indonesia declared its independence. He then joined the People's Security Body (BKR), which later became the People's Security Army (TKR), and headed a unit in Lembang, West Java. He was integrated into the Siliwangi Division, a military regional command responsible for the security of West Java, and fought against the British and Dutch troops who tried to reclaim their colonial empire. He was relocated to Central Java in 1948, after the signing of the Renville Agreement, which recognized the territories under Dutch control. He served under the command of Colonel Abdul Haris Nasution, and participated in the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference in 1949, which resulted in the recognition of Indonesian sovereignty. He became a close aide to Sukarno, the first president of Indonesia, and was involved in the negotiations with the Dutch and the United Nations. He also represented Indonesia in various international forums, such as the Bandung Conference in 1955, which formed the basis of the Non-Aligned Movement. He held several ministerial positions in the Sukarno government, such as Minister of Information, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of State. He was also the secretary-general of the Bandung Conference and the founder of the Masyumi Party, an Islamic political party. He supported Sukarno's policies of guided democracy and confrontation with Malaysia, and opposed the communist influence in Indonesia. He was also a champion of anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism, and advocated for the liberation of Palestine and other oppressed nations. He was the general who asked Sukarno to issue the Supersemar document on 11 March 1966, which gave Suharto the authority to restore order and security in the country. He retired from politics in 1966, after the fall of Sukarno and the rise of Suharto. He spent his later years as a writer and a lecturer, and published several books and articles on Indonesian history, politics, and culture. He also founded the Indonesian Institute of Culture, a research and education institution that aimed to preserve and promote the Indonesian cultural heritage. He died on 21 April 1995 in Cimahi, at the age of 72. He was buried at his residence on Jalan Cikini Raya No. 73. He was regarded as one of the founding fathers of Indonesia and a respected figure in the Indonesian society.