Hartono Rekso Dharsono
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Hartono Rekso Dharsono | |
---|---|
Secretary General of ASEAN | |
In office 5 June 1976 – 18 February 1978 | |
Preceded by | Office established |
Succeeded by | Umarjadi Notrowijono |
Personal details | |
Born | Pacalongan, Central Java, Dutch East Indies | 10 June 1925
Died | 5 June 1996 Bandung, West Java, Indonesia | (aged 70)
Alma mater | Bandung Institute of Technology |
Occupation | Diplomat |
Hartono Rekso Dharsono (10 June 1925 – 5 June 1996), often known as HR Dharsono, was a prominent
Early life
Dharsono was born in
Military career
It was only after the
Once Indonesia's Independence was recognized and
Returning to Indonesia in 1954, Dharsono became a member of the Army General Staff and in 1956, he was transferred to Magelang to take on the position of Vice Governor of the National Military Academy. After serving in Magelang for 3 years, Dharsono finally returned Siliwangi to serve as the KODAM's Chief of Staff. In 1962, Dharsono went abroad again, this time to the United Kingdom as a military attache before returning in 1964 to once again serve as KODAM VI/Siliwangi Chief of Staff.
Transition to New Order
It was during his second stint as Chief of Staff that the
Dharsono's support went unrewarded and when Suharto became Army Commander, Dharsono was appointed as a Personnel Assistant.[2] There was a further reward in 1966 after Suharto received Supersemar (Order of the Eleventh of March)when Dharsono became Commander of KODAM VI/Siliwangi.
New Order Radical
In August 1966, Suharto held a seminar for ABRI Officers and economists in Bandung, during which matters such as ABRI's involvement in politics and economic policy. One of the matters that came up was political parties and three approaches came up. The first approach was the status quo which will kept political parties as they are under the Sukarno era and the second approach was propagated by Suharto who wanted a reform of the political parties (Which he achieved when the number of political parties were reduced to just 3). The third and most drastic approach was taken by Dharsono who wanted political parties to be abolished altogether. Dharsono envisioned that in place of political parties, Parliamentary representatives are to be divided into two groups. One group would support the Government and the other would play the role of Opposition. He also envisioned that these groups would not be guided by any particular ideology but will base their policies on the New Order's principles of development and modernization. In promoting this approach, Dharsono was supported by Kemal Idris and Sarwo Edhie Wibowo and the three of them constituted a faction that was dubbed as "New Order Radicals".[3] The New Order Radicals' approach was viewed with hostility by political parties who did not like the prospect of being removed from politics. Finally in early 1967, with debates on political parties going into a stalemate, Suharto decided to place priority on a Legislative Election bill.
The issue of political parties returned again in 1968 after Suharto was finally elected as President. Dharsono once again returned with his proposal although he made some modifications so that it was more moderate in nature. This time political parties would not be abolished, they would all merge into two bigger parties. One Party would become the Government Party while the other would become the Opposition Party. This time, Dharsono's idea was moderate enough that Suharto took interest to the idea, but Dharsono's failure to convince the political parties to merge meant the idea was once again discarded.
Finally, in 1969, Dharsono decided to discard his moderate approach, return to this original idea, and impose it by force on the Regional
Diplomatic career
After he was discharged from ABRI, Dharsono became Indonesia's Ambassador to Thailand. In 1972, Dharsono took on the Ambassadorship to Cambodia while concurrently serving as Head of the Indonesian delegation to the International Commission of Control and Supervision, (ICCS). Dharsono returned to Indonesia in 1975 to serve as an Expert on Indonesian Affairs for the Government.
In 1976, Dharsono was elected
Opposition to New Order
After being removed from his position, Dharsono became Chairman of Propelat Corporation, a company with connections to KODAM VI/Siliwangi. At the same time, Dharsono also became Secretary General of the Army Study and Communications Forum (Fosko AD), a think tank set up by Army Chief of Staff Widodo for Army veterans to discuss the current political happenings. Like many others who joined the organization, Dharsono voiced criticism to Suharto for allowing ABRI to become partisan towards Golkar instead of being neutral. Suharto ordered Widodo to disband the group.
In 1980, Dharsono was linked with the
Dharsono made his return in September 1984 after the
In October 1984, Dharsono was arrested on the charge that he was involved with a terrorist attack on a
Death
Dharsono developed respiratory problems while serving his sentence at Cipinang and as his health deteriorated, he also began suffering liver problems. Dharsono died on 5 June 1996.
External links
- (in Indonesian) Profile on Tempo as found on hamline.edu
- An account of Suharto's search for a political format and the role which Dharsono played in it at the Wayback Machine (archived 22 September 2006)
Notes
- ^ Dake, Antonie C.A. (2005). Sukarno File: Kronologi Suatu Keruntuhan (in Indonesian) (4th ed.). Jakarta: Aksara Karunia. p. 138.
- ISBN 0-521-77326-1.
- ISBN 0-521-77326-1.