Born in Pacitan, East Java, on September 9, 1949, to a lower-middle class family and is the son of Gatot Koco, an army officer, and Siti Habibah. Since he was a child, he always wanted to be in the army.[2] His first school was Sekolah Rakyat Gadjahmada (now is SDN Baleharjo I). Yudhoyono developed a reputation as an extremely talented student in addition to being an academic achiever, excelling in writing poems, short stories, and play-acting. Yudhoyono was also talented in music and sport, reflected when he and his friends established a volleyball club called "Klub Rajawali" and a band called "Gaya Teruna".[3] Music became a hobby for Yudhoyono and he often sang one of his favorite songs, "Pelangi di Matamu" during his presidential campaign.[4]
When he was in 5th grade, Yudhoyono visited the National Military Academy (AMN) at Magelang. After seeing the soldiers training there and perhaps inspired by his own father's career, Yudhoyono became determined to join ABRI and become a soldier. Yudhoyono had originally wanted to get into the ABRI Academy (Akabri) after graduating from high school in 1968, however, he missed out because he did not register in time.[2]
Yudhoyono then became a lecture at the Sepuluh November Institute of Technology (ITS) before entering the Teachers Education School in Malang, East Java. There, he was able to prepare everything for his next education at Akabri. Yudhoyono officially entered Akabri in 1970 after he passed the test which took place in Bandung, West Java.[2]
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (born September 9, 1949), is an Indonesian retired military general and the sixth President of Indonesia. Yudhoyono won the presidency in September 2004 in the second round of the Indonesian presidential election, in which he defeated incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri. He was sworn into office on October 20, 2004, together with Jusuf Kalla as Vice President.
Yudhoyono spent three years at Akabri (Academy of Indonesian Armed Forces) and became the Commander of the Cadet Corps Division there. He graduated from Akabri in 1973, and as the best graduate of the year, received the prestigious Adhi Makayasa Medal from President Suharto.
After graduating, Yudhoyono joined Kostrad and became a platoon Commander in the 330 Airborne Battalion. Aside from leading his troops, Yudhoyono also received the task of giving the Battalion soldiers lessons on general knowledge and English. Yudhoyono's proficiency in English was one of the reasons why he was sent to the United States to undertake the Airborne and Ranger Course at Fort Benning in 1975.
Yudhoyono returned to Indonesia in 1976 where he became a platoon Commander in the 305 Battalion and assigned to East Timor. Yudhoyono had several tours of duty there since and, like many other Indonesian officers involved in the occupation of East Timor, was accused of committing war crimes. However, Yudhoyono has never been charged with any specific act. From East Timor, Yudhoyono became a Mortar platoon commander (1977), an Operations Officer for an Airborne Brigade (1977-1978), and Battalion Commander (1979-1981) at Kostrad. Yudhoyono then spent 1981 and 1982 working at the Army Headquarters.
Whilst working at the Army Headquarters, Yudhoyono was sent to the United States again, this time to participate in the Infantry Officer Advanced Course at Fort Benning and in the On The Job Training with the 82nd Airborne Division. Yudhoyono also spent time at Panama and went through the jungle warfare school. When Yudhoyono returned in 1983, he was made Commander of the Infantry Trainers' School. It was not long before he was abroad again this time to Belgium and West Germany to undertake the Antitank weapons Course. In 1985, Yudhoyono also took a Battalion Commando Course in Malaysia.
From 1986-1988, Yudhoyono served at KODAM IX/Udayana which looked after the security of Bali and the smaller Sunda Islands. Yudhoyono was Battalion Commander from 1986-1988 and was part of the Operational Staff in 1988. In 1989, Yudhoyono became a lecturer at the Army Staff College (Seskoad) and delivered a presentation entitled "ABRI's Professionalism at the Present and in the Future". Together with Agus Wirahadikusumah, Yudhoyono published a book entitled "The Challenges of Development". As a lecturer, Yudhoyono also began to experiment with the concept of democracy.
Whilst at Seskoad, Yudhoyono also took the opportunity to further his own military education. He went to the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. While at the United States, he also took the opportunity to get an MA in business management from Webster University in 1991.
In 1992, Yudhoyono was transferred to the Army Information Department and worked as a speech writer for General Edi Sudrajat, the Army Chief of Staff. In 1993, when Edi became ABRI Commander, Yudhoyono became the Coordinator Edi's personal staff. Edi did not last long as ABRI Commander and Yudhoyono was then transferred back to Kostrad where he became a Brigade Commander. A year later, Yudhoyono was the Operations Assistant at KODAM Jaya before becoming a Military Resort Commander (KOREM) at KODAM IV/Diponegoro in Central Java.
Yudhoyono had one more stint overseas when he became Indonesia's Chief Military Observer of United Nation Peacekeeping Force in Bosnia in 1995-96.
When Yudhoyono returned to Indonesia, he was made KODAM Jaya Chief of Staff before being appointed as KODAM II/Sriwijaya Commander. In this position, Yudhoyono was responsible for the security of the southern provinces of Sumatra. He served in this position until 1997, when he was appointed Chief of Staff for Social Political Affairs. At the same time, he was also appointed Chairman of the ABRI Faction at the 1998 People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) General Session and participated in Suharto's election to a 7th term as President.
During the days which would lead to Suharto's fall in May, Yudhoyono and pro-reform ABRI officers conducted meetings and discussions with Nurcholish Madjid, a secular pro-reform Muslim leader. From his discussions, Yudhoyono accepted to the fact that Suharto should resign but like the ABRI officers who went to the meeting with him, was reluctant to withdraw their support of Suharto publicly much less ask for Suharto's resignation.[5] Nevertheless the pressure would eventually become too much for Suharto, who resigned on 21 May 1998.
As Indonesia entered the reform period, ABRI's popularity, because of its association with Suharto, was at an all time low. Nevertheless, ABRI undertook reform much like all the other aspects of Indonesian society. To de-emphasize ABRI's political role, Yudhoyono's Chief of Staff for Social Political Affairs was renamed Chief of Staff for Territorial Affairs and in 1999, ABRI would be separated into TNI and the Republic of Indonesia Police (Polri). At this time, Yudhoyono's popularity began to increase as he offered ideas and concepts to reform the military and nation. He did this by combining the strong reformist sentiment of the time with TNI's concern for security and stability.[5] Yudhoyono then became known in the media as "The Thinking General".
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