Sumitro - Commandership of Kopkamtib and Fall From Grace

Commandership of Kopkamtib and Fall From Grace

Sumitro reached what turned out to be the pinnacle of his military career in 1973 when he was appointed Commander of Kopkamtib and Deputy Commander of ABRI. As Commander of Kopkamtib, Sumitro gained enormous power and was already being dubbed as the "number two person" in charge of Indonesia after Suharto. Interestingly, Sumitro tried to further strengthen his position by trying to appoint a Deputy Kopkamtib Commander of his choosing. But Suharto saw through Sumitro's attention and appointed Admiral Sudomo, a close colleague, as Deputy Kopkamtib Commander.

As Suharto began his second term as President, he did not have the amount of popularity that he had when he took the office from Sukarno. As 1973 wore on, there was increasing displeasure, especially within universities with corruption, the amount of foreign investment in the Indonesian economy, and the power held by Suharto's personal assistants (Aspri). At the same time, a rivalry was developing within the political elite. On one side was Sumitro, who wanted to cut down military involvement in politics and reduce it to a purely professional role. On the other side was Ali Murtopo, who wanted the military to continue being involved with politics and one of the aforementioned Aspri.

Towards the end of 1973, Sumitro began to distance himself from the Government. He did not take action against the criticism and dissent directed at the regime although it was well within his brief to do so. In fact, Sumitro began holding talks in university campuses and calling for a new leadership. Sumitro also encouraged more criticism of the Aspri. Sumitro's growing power was on display in late 1973 when he intervened to help pass the marriage law. At this occasion, he successfully hammered out a compromise between the Government and Muslim organizations who saw the bill as being too secular.

As 1973 drew to a close, Suharto tried to mediate between Sumitro and Ali through a series of meetings but he did not succeed. For his part, Sumitro only continued to become more provocative in his actions. During the first days of January 1974, he visited Nasution and Sarwo Edhie Wibowo, two Generals who had helped Suharto gain power but has gotten disillusioned with the regime As 1973 drew to a close, Suharto tried to mediate the two rivals through a series of meetings but he did not succeed.

On 14 January 1974, Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka arrived in Jakarta for a visit. Tanaka's visit provided the ideal opportunity for those who are critical of the amount of foreign investment in the Indonesian economy to protest and express their displeasure. On 15 and 16 January however, the protests turned violent and riots broke out in Jakarta leaving 11 dead, 300 injured, and 775 arrested. After Tanaka left, Sumitro took action and went after the student union of the University of Indonesia (UI). His actions proved too late as he had already been discredited, being viewed as someone who had let the protests get out of hand. Although given Ali's intelligence background, there is a theory that he had sent his agents into the crowd to incite the violence so that Sumitro could be discredited.

Not long after the Malari Incident, Sumitro resigned the Commandership of Kopkamtib and followed it up two months later with his resignation as Deputy Commander of ABRI. Suharto tried to offer him the consolation of being Indonesian Ambassador to the United States, but Sumitro rejected it; preferring instead to retire from military life altogether.