Pitan Daslani – Navy Commander Adm. R.E. Martadinata looked tense as he gathered top officers at the Navy headquarters in early January 1962. Then-President Sukarno had ordered a top-secret infiltration into West Irian (now Papua), which was occupied by Dutch colonial forces. Moments later he turned to Lt. Col. Sudomo, sitting on his right.
"Make all the necessary preparations," Martadinata said as silence gripped the room. "Yes sir, I will do as told," Sudomo replied, recalling Sukarno's speech of Dec. 19, 1961, which instructed forces of the nation to do three things – "cancel a Dutch plan to establish the republic of Papua, raise the Indonesian national flag in Papua and mobilize national forces to complete the mission."
Earlier, on Jan. 2 that year, Sukarno had appointed Maj. Gen. Suharto to lead the Mandala Command based in Makassar – This command was meant to expel the Dutch from Papua.
At the Navy headquarters, top officers were having a follow-up meeting that week. Nobody dared to come forth when Sudomo asked who would volunteer to lead the infiltration mission to Papua.
The room fell silent when Sudomo spoke as the officers knew that direct combat against the Dutch would be suicidal given a lack of modern military equipment. But the young Col. Sudomo turned to Martadinata and said: "I will lead this mission if nobody else will."
The admiral nodded and the Navy's deputy commander, Yos Sudarso, rose from the chair and praised Sudomo's courage. "I need this kind of officer. I will go with you. If you go, I must go." On the night of Jan. 9, 1962, Sudomo left for Papua.
Sudomo was in the ship Harimau and behind him were the ships Macan Tutul and Macan Kumbang. He gathered all the officers to give his final instructions. "Some were higher in rank than me but since I was the commander of this mission, they listened to me," Sudomo recalled in his 1997 book, "Laksamana Sudomo, Mengatasi Gelombang Kehidupan" ("Admiral Sudomo, Overcoming the Waves of Life").
On the evening of Jan. 15, 1962, Sudomo ordered the ships to enter the Dutch-patrolled Papua waters. He did not realize that a Dutch Neptune jet fighter was monitoring their movements. That night, the fleet came under heavy attack from air and sea. Realizing that their mission was not to attack, and without the necessary weapons to do so, Sudomo swiftly ordered the ships to make a U-turn for safety.
After the other ships had escaped the Dutch attack, to Sudomo's surprise, the command of Macan Tutul was taken over by his superior, Yos Sudarso. Instead of retreating, Yos Sudarso's Macan Tutul sped into the direction of the enemy's fleet. Sudomo recalled him shouting: "Fight on for our dignity." Around 20 minutes later, Macan Tutul began to sink in the Arafura waters, along with Yos Sudarso, who to this day is remembered as a national hero. Sudomo had to lead the other two ships back to safety for a bigger mission – liberate Papua – which in 1963 was made part of the Republic of Indonesia.
Many recalled this piece of Indonesian history upon hearing on Wednesday that Sudomo had passed away at the age of 85. To many young leaders, Sudomo was a great source of inspiration, especially for his decisiveness and ability to embrace people from various backgrounds.
After the liberation of Papua, Sudomo became commander of the Navy. But here is another coincidence: The last day of his life was the anniversary of the day that he was appointed leader of the Command for the Restoration of Security and Public Order (Kopkamtib), the New Order's security superbody. It was on that day in 1978 that then-President Suharto put him in the chair and gave him full authority to take all the necessary actions to restore stability under the antisubversion law.
As of that day Sudomo became one of the most feared military leaders in this country given the nearly limitless extent of Kopkamtib's power. Two other generals similarly feared then were L.B. Moerdani, who was a top intelligence architect and later became commander of the Armed Forces, and Yoga Sugama, who led the National Intelligence Coordinating Body (Bakin). They were often referred to as Suharto's "security trio," but Sudomo was exceptional because while being feared in public, he was at the same time a humorous and romantic person.
Suharto also trusted Sudomo with the positions of coordinating minister for political and security affairs and minister of manpower. The last official position Sudomo occupied was chairman of the Supreme Advisory Board – providing advice to the president.
To ordinary people, Pak Domo – as he was affectionately known – was a great leader who was a bit flamboyant, especially after retiring from military duties. He married no less than three times and enjoyed life into old age.
He liked cracking jokes, sometimes a bit naughty when facing the right type of audience. But his purpose in life was simple, as he once said: "Give them a reason to laugh and be happy."
[Pitan Daslani is a senior political correspondent for BeritaSatu Media Holdings. He can be contacted at pitandaslani@gmail.com.]