Maj. Gen. (ret.) Soebijakto dies of a stroke at 68

JAKARTA (JP): The former governor of the National Resilience Institute, Maj. Gen. (ret.) Soebijakto Prawirasoebrata, died of a stroke at the age of 68 early yesterday.

He is survived by his wife, Rutiyani, daughter Gayatri Kusumawardhani and two grandchildren.

His relatives said Soebijakto died at home around 3 a.m. shortly after watching a Javanese shadow puppet show on TV.

He was buried in the afternoon at the Kalibata heroes cemetery with full military honors and senior government officials present.

Among the active and retired military officials seen at the funeral were Armed Forces Chief of General Affairs Lt. Gen. Tarub, former Armed Forces chief of staff L.B. Moerdani, former governor of the institute Sayidiman Suryohadiprodjo and former home affairs minister Rudini.

Rudini -- who chairs the Indonesian Institute for Strategic Studies, of which Soebijakto was executive director -- described the deceased as an intelligent and critical general.

"He shunned confrontational attitudes. His orientation of thinking had always been national resilience, Pancasila and the constitution," he said.

One of the late Soebijakto's critical essays was on the future of the Armed Forces' dual function, or dwifungsi, doctrine, which allows the army to be involved in politics.

Soebijakto was born in Yogyakarta on Aug. 17, 1929. He was a 1954 graduate of the Netherlands Breda Military Academy and a 1962 graduate from the United States's Artillery Carrier Course.

He was defense attache to Russia from 1965 to 1968, chief of the European chapter of the country's Intelligence Bureau from 1968 to 1970, of the United States chapter and the Middle East- chapter from 1971 to 1972.

He was staff intelligence in the defense and security ministry from 1972 to 1977, the ministry's deputy assistant of intelligence in 1978, and held the top post at the National Resilience Institute from 1983 to 1989. (08)