Prabowo Subianto: Notes from the Experience of Lieutenant General TNI (Ret) Prabowo Subianto
Pak Sutiyoso graduated from the ’68 Academy. As a junior, I had seen Pak Sutiyoso from a distance in Kopassus. He was in Group 2 in Magelang, while I was in Group 1 in Cijantung and in Batujajar. Although we did not often interact in service, I knew that he was involved in various operations, including infiltration operations in East Timor under Pak Dading Kalbuadi.
Pak Sutiyoso is known as someone full of humor and a field person with many operations. He is also very famous for his hobby of shooting moving targets.
When he was a Colonel serving as the Operations Assistant of Kopassus, he called me. At that time, I was still the Commander of Brigade 17 Airborne. He proposed to Pak Tarub that I become the Commander of Pusdikpassus in Batujajar. Despite aspiring to remain as the Commander of the prestigious 17 Airborne Brigade, I agreed to Pak Sutiyoso’s request to return to Kopassus and serve as the Commander of Pusdik. The Education Center in Batujajar is also very prestigious, and it is where all airborne forces and all of Indonesia’s special forces must go through. I saw it as an opportunity to influence the quality of Indonesia’s elite forces by improving the curriculum and the quality of training and trainers in Batujajar.
During my time as the Commander of Pusdikpassus, he provided a lot of support. While he was the Operations Assistant in Kostrad, and I was the Commander of Brigade, we both were under the leadership of the Pangkostrad. Pak Sutiyoso is a very patriotic person and has a strong sense of national pride. He is also known for his sense of humor. He is the type of senior and mentor who nurtured me during my time in the military.
