26 Facts About Soedarmo

Soedarmo was born on 28 September 1959 and is an Indonesian military officer and bureaucrat who was the Director General of Politics and General Government from 2015 to 2019.

Soedarmo began his military career after graduating from the Armed Forces Academy in 1983.

Soedarmo spend most of his military career at Army Intelligence Center and was deployed to East Timor and Irian Jaya for intelligence and defence operations.

Soedarmo served as the commander of Makassar's military district in the 1990s.

In 1995, Soedarmo received his first overseas deployment, serving as Indonesia's military attache to Singapore until 1998, as a staff for legal and security Affairs at the Indonesian Embassy in Malaysia from 1998 until 2003, and as Indonesia's military attache to Singapore from 2003 until 2006.

Soedarmo returned to Indonesia and became an assistant officer for foreign affairs at the Army Security, Monitoring and Evaluation staff.

Soedarmo was promoted from colonel to brigadier general in 2009.

Soedarmo was initially assigned as the director for Sumatra and Kalimantan at one of the agency's deputies.

Soedarmo was moved to a new post on 6 March 2012 and became the agency's head in East Kalimantan.

Three years later, on 15 September 2014, Soedarmo became an expert staff for ideological and political affairs in the agency, and promoted again to major general.

Soedarmo was dismissed from his office on 1 April 2015, and he became a military officer without any office since then.

Soedarmo became the Director General of Politics and General Government in the Ministry of Internal Affairs on 1 July 2015, replacing Agung Mulyana.

Soedarmo took steps to improve and repair the directorate general's website to prevent out-of-date news.

In December 2015, Soedarmo announced that his directorate general has finished constructing a community radio station in East Kalimantan's cross-border region with Malaysia.

Soedarmo stated that the construction of the radio station was to curb the influence of Malaysia into the province.

Soedarmo announced in January 2016 that his directorate general would keep a close eyes on new and unregistered mass organizations in Indonesia that posed a threat to the national ideology Pancasila and the government.

Soedarmo became governor of Aceh on 27 October 2016, replacing Governor Zaini Abdullah and Vice Governor Muzakkir Manaf, who had to resign due to seeking reelection.

Soedarmo instructed emergency bodies to work in the hardest hit areas and stated that deploying heavy equipment and distribution of aid supplies were the first priorities.

Soedarmo ended his tenure as acting governor on 25 June 2017 and appointed Aceh's regional secretary, Dermawan, as the next acting governor.

Soedarmo became the acting Governor of Papua on 26 February 2018, replacing Lukas Enembe who is running for the 2018 Papua gubernatorial election.

Soedarmo's term was extended on 10 April 2018 after the elected governor could not be elected in schedule.

Soedarmo instructed the illegal Korowai gold mine in August 2018, which has caused disturbance amongst the local residents and environmental pollution since it began operating in December 2017.

Soedarmo ended his term after Lukas Enembe, who won the gubernatorial election, was sworn in as definitive governor on 5 September 2018.

Soedarmo retired from the Ministry of Internal Affairs on 1 October 2019.

In November 2017, Soedarmo was named as a possible candidate to contest in the 2018 East Kalimantan gubernatorial election and allegedly received endorsement from the Golkar party.

On 3 February 2020, Soedarmo became the Deputy Chairman of the National Sports Committee of Indonesia, replacing Nanang Djuana.