By: Prabowo Subianto [taken from the Book of Military Leadership 1: Notes from the Experience of Lieutenant General TNI (Ret) Prabowo Subianto]
Pak Sutiyoso graduated from the ’68 Academy. As a junior, of course I had seen Pak Sutiyoso from a distance in Kopassus. He was in Group 2 in Magelang. I was in Group 1 in Cijantung and in Batujajar. Actually, we didn’t often deal with or cross paths in service, but what I know is 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. A field person with many operations. Also very famous for his hobby of shooting moving targets.
At that time, 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 said, “Prabowo, I propose to Pak Tarub that you become the Commander of Pusdikpassus in Batujajar.”
Of course I aspired to become the Commander of the very prestigious 17 Airborne Brigade. The Education Center in Batujajar is also very prestigious. All airborne forces, and all of Indonesia’s special forces must go through Batujajar. So if I wanted to do the best for the TNI by influencing the quality of Indonesia’s elite forces, I had to be able to improve the curriculum and the quality of training and trainers in Batujajar. That’s why I agreed to Pak Sutiyoso’s request to return to Kopassus and serve as the Commander of Pusdik.
When I was the Commander of Pusdikpassus, he backed me up a lot. When he was the Operations Assistant in Kostrad, when I was the Commander of Brigade, we both were under the leadership of the Pangkostrad. Pak Sutiyoso is a very patriotic person. He is red and white. He is also very good at making jokes. That’s the type of seniors, my mentors who have nurtured me during my time in the military.
