Jakarta – General Abdul Haris Nasution, an Indonesian independence hero who narrowly escaped assassination in 1965, died yesterday at 81.

The retired five-star general, former army chief and Cabinet minister died in Jakarta's Gatot Subroto military hospital, Antara reported. The cause of death was not specified, but Gen Nasution went into a coma after a recent stroke.

He was the only survivor of a round of assassinations of top generals on Sept 30, 1965, which the army claimed was part of a coup attempt by Indonesia's Communist Party.

Gen Suharto, the only senior officer not targeted, crushed the attempt quickly and moved to seize power from President Sukarno, who was accused of leftist sympathies.

As many as 500,000 trade unionists, Communist Party members and others were murdered in an army-inspired backlash that lasted into 1966. Hundreds of others were jailed and sent off to faraway penal colonies.

Gen Nasution was a leading figure in Indonesia's four-year fight against the return of Dutch rule after WWII. Arguably his greatest legacy is the policy of dual function adopted in 1958, in which the military adopted a direct role in national politics.