General Raden Oerip Soemohardjo (; Perfected Spelling: Urip Sumoharjo; 22 February 1893 – 17 November 1948) was an Indonesian general, the first chief of general staff of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, and acting Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. He received several awards from the Indonesian government, including the title National Hero of Indonesia in 1964.
Born Moehammad Sidik in Purworejo, Dutch East Indies, Oerip Soemohardjo exhibited leadership skills from an early age. As his parents wanted him to become a regent, after elementary school Oerip was sent to the School for Native Government Employees (id) in Magelang. His mother died during his second year at the school, and Oerip left to undertake military training Koninklijke Militaire Academie in Meester Cornelis, Batavia (modern-day Jatinegara, Jakarta). Upon graduating in 1914, he became a lieutenant in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army; during almost 25 years of service he was stationed on three different islands and promoted several times, eventually becoming the highest-ranking Native officer in the country.
Oerip Soemohardjo resigned from his position in about 1938 after a disagreement with the regent of Purworejo, where he had been stationed. He and his wife Rohmah then moved to a village near Yogyakarta, where they established a large garden and villa. After Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940 Oerip was recalled to active duty. When the Empire of Japan occupied the Indies less than two years later, Oerip was arrested and detained in a prisoner-of-war camp for three and a half months. He spent the rest of the occupation at his villa.
On 14 October 1945, several months after Indonesia proclaimed its independence, Oerip was declared the chief of general staff and acting Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. Working to build a united force from the fractured former military groups in the country, Oerip received little oversight owing to irregularities in the chain of command. On 12 November 1945, lieutenant general Sudirman was selected as Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, while Oerip remained as chief of general staff. The two oversaw almost three years of development during the Indonesian National Revolution, until Oerip resigned in early 1948 because of the political leadership's lack of trust in the army. His health deteriorated; he was already suffering from a weak heart, and he died of a heart attack a few months later. He was posthumously promoted to full general.
Early life
Oerip Soemohardjo was born Moehammad Sidik ("Little Muhammad") in his family's home in Purworejo, Dutch East Indies, on 22 February 1893. He was the first son born to Soemohardjo, a headmaster and son of a local Muslim leader, and his wife, the daughter of Raden Tumenggung Widjojokoesoemo, the regent of Trenggalek; the family later had two more sons, Iskandar and Soekirno, as well as three daughters. The boys were raised partly by servants, and at a young age Sidik began showing leadership qualities, commanding groups of neighbourhood children in fishing and games of football. The brothers attended the school for Javanese headed by their father, and as a result received special treatment; this led to them becoming complacent and frequently misbehaving.
In his second year of school, Sidik fell from a candlenut tree and lost consciousness. After he awoke, his mother sent a letter to Widjojokoesoemo, who decided that Sidik's name was the cause of his misbehaviour. In reply, Widjojokoesoemo wrote that Sidik should be renamed Oerip, which means "alive". When he recovered fully, his family decided that the newly renamed Oerip – who continued to misbehave – should study at the local Dutch School for Girls (); the schools for boys were full and they hoped that the girls' school would improve Oerip's skill in Dutch, the language of the regime, as well as his temperament. After a year in the girls' school, in which Oerip became calmer, he was sent to a Dutch-run school for boys. However, his academic results continued to be poor. Beginning in his final year of elementary school, he often visited his friend's father, an ex-soldier who had served in Aceh for twenty years, to listen to the old man's stories, which inspired Oerip to join the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (, or KNIL).
After passing an exam for would-be state employees and several months of preparations, Oerip moved to Magelang in 1908 to attend the School for Native Government Employees (, or OSVIA); his parents intended for him to become a regent like his grandfather. The following year his brothers joined him. After his mother died in 1909, Oerip sank into a months-long bout of depression and became withdrawn.
After finishing the year at OSVIA, he decided to enrol at Koninklijke Militaire Academie in Meester Cornelis, Batavia (modern-day Jatinegara, Jakarta). He went there directly from Magelang, and told his brothers to inform their father, who disapproved of his son's choice. Soemohardjo initially attempted to bribe his son with 1,000 gulden to return to OSVIA, but eventually agreed to pay for Oerip's tuition. After his training, during which he found military life enjoyable, Oerip graduated from the academy in October 1914 and became a second lieutenant in the KNIL.
Royal Netherlands East Indies Army After several days visiting his father in Purworejo, Oerip returned to Meester Cornelis where he took up a posting to Battalion XII. Even though he was the smallest man in the unit and the only native, he was placed in a position of leadership. A year and half later he was sent to Banjarmasin, Borneo. After a period patrolling the jungles outside Puruk Cahu and Muara Tewe, he was sent to Tanah Grogot, followed by Balikpapan. While stationed there Oerip was promoted to first lieutenant but faced discrimination as a native in the Dutch forces. In Banjarmasin he had convinced his commander to strike an ordinance forbidding non-Dutch officers from joining the football team, and by 1917 Oerip had received equal legal status with Dutch officers. After Balikpapan Oerip was further sent to Samarinda, Tarakan, and ultimately Malinau.
In Malinau, Oerip patrolled the border between the Dutch East Indies and the British-controlled Kingdom of Sarawak (part of modern-day Malaysia); he also worked to prevent conflicts and headhunting among Dayak tribes. One day, seven years after arriving in Borneo, Oerip returned from patrol to find his home had been burned down. Upon the recommendation of a passing doctor, Oerip went back to Java, via Tarakan and Surabaya, to Cimahi, where he spent several months in recovery from fatigue.
Fully recovered, in 1923 Oerip was stationed in his hometown, Purworejo. In September 1925 Oerip was transferred to Magelang to serve in the (Foot Marshalry), a gendarmerie. Initially known to avoid women and under pressure to marry quickly, in Magelang Oerip became involved with Rohmah Soebroto, the daughter of his former Javanese and Malay language teacher Soebroto and a distant relative of female emancipation figure Kartini. The pair were engaged on 7 May 1926 and married on 30 June of the same year. Also in Magelang, Oerip took on his father's name, which he used as a family name for dealing with the Dutch. Afterwards he began referring to himself by the full name of Oerip Soemohardjo, although others continued to call him Oerip.
The year after his marriage, Oerip and his wife were stationed in Ambarawa, where Oerip was tasked with rebuilding a previously disbanded unit. While training local recruits in place of the Dutch commander who had yet to arrive, Oerip was promoted to captain. After the Dutch commander arrived, in July 1928 Oerip was given a year's leave, which he used to travel throughout Europe on a sightseeing trip with his wife. Upon his return to the Indies, he was stationed at Meester Cornelis.
In Meester Cornelis, Oerip began running training exercises; while stationed in Batavia, his father died. In 1933, he was sent to Padang Panjang in Sumatra to deal with unrest that had already killed several Dutch officers. His time in Padang Panjang passed uneventfully, and in July 1935 he was given leave to go to Europe again. He was also promoted to major at that time, which made him the highest-ranking native officer in the KNIL. The following year, upon his return to the Indies, he was stationed in Purworejo. In mid-1938, after a disagreement with the local regent, Oerip was told to transfer to Gombong; he refused, then left the KNIL and moved to his parents-in-law's home in Yogyakarta.
Civilian life and Japanese occupation In Yogyakarta, the unemployed Oerip took up orchid gardening. Soon after arriving, he and his wife bought a villa in Gentan, north of the city. Although the villa was small, the couple used its of land to open a large flower garden, with their income subsidised by Oerip's pension from the KNIL. At his villa, named KEM (for , or "Purity and Bravery"), Oerip often received guests, both military and civilian, from whom he received information about current events and to whom he gave advice regarding military matters and politics. In 1940, the pair adopted a four-year-old Dutch girl named Abby from an orphanage in Semarang.
Shortly thereafter, on 10 May 1940, when Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands, Oerip was recalled to active service. Three days after reporting to Colonel Pik in Magelang, he went to the KNIL headquarters in Bandung, where he was the first retired officer to report. Afterwards, he and his family – who had joined him – were transferred to Cimahi, where Oerip was tasked with establishing a new battalion depot. Several native officers were stationed in northern parts of the Indies during 1941 in preparation for an expected attack by the Empire of Japan, although Oerip stayed in Cimahi.
After the Japanese occupied the Indies in early 1942, Oerip was held in a mixed prisoner of war camp in Cimahi. Upon his release three and a half months later, Oerip refused an offer to form a new, Japanese-backed police force and returned to KEM, where he and his wife rented paddy fields to grow rice while continuing to operate their flower garden. To protect their land, they surrounded their property and home with a high bamboo fence. Although no longer active in the military, Oerip occasionally received former KNIL members, including Abdul Haris Nasution and Sunarmo, who brought news of events outside the village. The couple continued their work, harassed and surveilled by the Japanese and pro-Japanese Indonesians, until the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August 1945 signified that Japan would soon withdraw. It was during this period that Oerip began having heart problems.
Indonesian National Revolution and death
After the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence on 17 August 1945, Oerip and his family left KEM for Rohma's parents' home in Yogyakarta. When the People's Safety Body (, or BKR) was formed on 23 August, Oerip led a group of military commanders who petitioned for it to be set up as a national military formation; a separate group, led by politician Oto Iskandar di Nata, wanted the BKR to fulfil the functions of a police organisation. The political leadership, consisting of President Sukarno and Vice President Mohammad Hatta, agreed to a compromise: it became a police-style organisation, but most of its members had served in the military, either with the Defenders of the Homeland (PETA; ) or the Heiho.