Nurfika Osman – After years of being accustomed to public attention for his penchant for flamboyance, Brig. Gen. (ret.) Herman Sarens Sudiro on Wednesday found himself the subject of a different kind of scrutiny – of hospital staff and the soldiers guarding him.
The 79-year-old former head of the late President Suharto's presidential guard was admitted to Mitra Kemayoran Hospital in Central Jakarta on Wednesday, a day after he had finally surrendered himself to Military Police. They had been pursuing him in a case involving misappropriation of Army property.
Herman surrendered just before noon on Tuesday, ending a standoff that began on Monday at the upscale home of his daughter in Bumi Serpong Damai, Tangerang.
"According to a team of doctors, he is medically unfit to appear before a tribunal at this time," said Air Vice Marshal Sagom Tamboen, a military spokesman.
Despite being a high-ranking general, Herman was better known for his penchant for flashy historical military uniforms, powerful motorcycles and horses, and also for promoting the country's first World Boxing Association match in the 1980s.
The arrest of Herman, said to be close to a number of former top military officials, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is rumored to be politically motivated, a military expert said on Wednesday that it was simply because he could not amicably settle a dispute he had with the Armed Forces.
"There have been so many land disputes involving Army generals which have been settled peacefully via a consensus," said Andi Widjajanto, a lecturer at the University of Indonesia. "[Herman] could not be asked to settle a dispute via a consensus, so the military command had to come into the picture and he was detained."
Herman's connections were said to be a factor in the military being unable to wrest back control of the disputed 29,085-square-meter plot of land on Jalan Warung Buncit Raya in South Jakarta. He was one of the senior officials in the president's election campaign team last year and was believed to also be close to Gen. (ret.) Wiranto, the chairman of the People's Conscience Party (Hanura).
Andi, however, disagreed that Herman was close to Yudhoyono. "If so, he would have been protected," he said.
Herman, he said, had also not distinguished himself in his military career, never having been involved in high-profile operations.
Andi said the land dispute had surfaced because of greater transparency. "It was a common thing in the '70s and '80s for military assets to belong to a single military general," he said. "Nobody would have been brave enough to bring up that issue then."
But during the reform era, the Ministry of Finance demanded military assets be returned to the state.
"The ministry can now legally demand the military and the incumbent officer be brought before a military tribunal if they do not return military assets," Andi said.