Retired Lieutenant General Ahmad Rizal Ramdhani: Intelligence and Food Territoriality
They work like tree roots, hidden beneath the ground, yet supporting all life above it. From the womb of such forces was born Lieutenant General TNI (Ret.) Ahmad Rizal Ramdhani, forged through various assignments and natural challenges, yet remaining humble.
Born on 9 November 1970 and shaped in the crucible of the 1993 Military Academy as the Drummer of the Canka Lokananta Flute Corps, Rizal grew and developed in the harsh world of military service, with prime leadership, obedience to worship, closeness to his subordinates, and love from the people in every assignment.
The Army Engineering Corps, a branch that teaches that strength is not only about destruction, but also construction, camouflage, bridging & ferrying, useful in both war and peace. It was there that Rizal was honed and formed into a First Officer, and along his journey, he also possessed reliable intelligence and territorial capabilities.
Perhaps that is why Ahmad Rizal Ramdhani’s career path appears like a long river: calm on the surface, but with strong currents in its depths.
He began his service from the most basic positions, Platoon Leader, Company Leader, to Staff Officer in the 1st Engineer Battalion/Dhira Dharma. There, a young officer learned that leadership is not about the loudest voice, but the ability to be the first example when heavy work begins.
Rizal also honed various intelligence educations both domestically and abroad, and continued assignments at the TNI BAIS Intelligence School, Commander of the Regional Intelligence Detachment Kodam V/Brawijaya, and also served in the Presidential Security Guard as Head of Security Band.
Armed with diverse task experiences and education, as well as a high level of responsibility, it formed Rizal’s more mature character in facing various multi-dimensional and complex assignment challenges, yet remaining humble.
We can liken it: if infantry is the spearhead, then engineers are the hands that open the way. They span bridges when rivers obstruct, they clear rubble when disasters strike, they reorganise life after devastation.
Therefore, Rizal’s journey was never far from work that required prime physical condition, patience, and mental resilience. When serving as Intelligence Staff at Kodim 0201/BS Medan and then trusted to become Commander of the Regional Intelligence Detachment I/Bukit Barisan, he learned Territorial Intelligence on how to read people and regions in responding to field dynamics.
In the world of intelligence, threats do not always appear on the surface. They are like a small fire under husks: silent, but can flare up at any time.
However, the engineer nature still clings to him. He is known as a figure who prefers building over sharpening conflicts. Even when serving as Commander of the Batam District Military Command, the territorial approach he used is often described as prioritising social collaboration over mere formal power approaches.
His service footprint became even more prominent when becoming Commander of the 162nd Infantry Brigade/Wira Bhakti in Lombok. Not long after he took office, the major 2018 earthquake shook 8 districts/cities in West Nusa Tenggara Province. Lombok turned into a landscape of wounds, houses collapsed, mosques cracked, children lost their beds, and thousands of families lived in evacuation tents.
Amid the chaos, the tall and upright Rizal was present not only as a military commander. But as a humanitarian leader. He worked shoulder to shoulder with the then Head of BNPB, Lieutenant General TNI Doni Monardo—his senior from the 1985 Military Academy—in rebuilding hope for the Lombok community.
The late Doni Monardo himself was widely known as a military figure with the philosophy of ‘planting trees is like planting hope’, and that spirit found resonance in Ahmad Rizal Ramdhani.
In Lombok, territorial duties turned into humanitarian work. Soldiers no longer just maintained security, but lifted residents’ house debris, built temporary shelters, distributed logistics, and calmed traumatised children.
On many occasions, Rizal is known as a figure who loves nature and the environment. Almost in every assignment location, he also left a trail of greening, such as planting trees, reviving green spaces, and encouraging soldiers to understand that protecting the earth is part of protecting the nation.
Rizal’s career continued to move towards strategic spaces, starting from Deputy Chief of Staff of the II Military Regional Command, Special Staff to the Army Chief of Staff in assignment to the Ministry of Agriculture as Commander of the Food Security Task Force under operational control, pioneering the development of one million hectares of rice fields along with its infrastructure in the Seven Rivers of Merauke, Rizal directly joined with soldiers and farmers, working together to build Merauke into a national food barn for the future, until finally trusted to become President Director of Perum BULOG.
At this point, his military journey found a new form. Previously, he built bridges for troops. Now, he builds food distribution bridges for the Indonesian people.
And indeed, the engineering world has a very close relationship with the food world. Both speak of logistics, connectivity, and resilience. Damaged roads can hinder rice distribution. Rizal combines intelligence and territorial knowledge in the food sector.
A collapsed bridge can break the food chain. An unorganised warehouse can create a crisis. Therefore, Rizal’s experience in the engineering corps and territorial becomes a unique asset in leading BULOG.
Under his leadership, BULOG does not only carry administrative tasks. BULOG bears the great mandate of the state, namely realising sustainable food self-sufficiency, and food self-sufficiency in the modern Indonesian context (not just an economic matter). It is sovereignty.
President Prabowo Subianto has repeatedly emphasised that a nation unable to meet its own food needs will easily be shaken by global pressures. In that grand framework, figures like Ahmad Rizal Ramdhani become relevant.