Gianto, as his friends would call him, served as the Aide-de-camp (Adc) to the late Gen. Slamet Riyadi, a hero of the fight against the Dutch in the Revolutionary War of 1945. He was present next to the general when he was shot by Republik Maluku Selatan (RMS) rebel group members in Maluku in 1946 during the uprising there.

Gianto was one of those who helped establish the Army’s Special Forces of RPKAD under Djoni Djambek, when he assisted Col. Kawilarang of the Siliwangi Division. Afterward, Gianto was a very active member of Pak Ali’s Unit Operasi Khusus (special operations unit) of the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), which took part in the dialogue with the Malaysians in the process to end the confrontation with the Southeast Asian neighbor.

Afterward, Gianto followed Pak Ali’s career, serving as his assistant when the latter served as a personal assistant of president Soeharto (1967-1974), deputy head of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (BAKIN) in 1974-1978, and information minister (1978-1983).

I call Gianto a quiet hero because he was always behind a big figure/leader — assisting, protecting, making every preparation for the leader, giving advice, but never taking credit for the leader’s success.

During the time of Konfrontasi, Gianto worked closely with Gen. Benny Moerdani, Gen. AR Rachman, Des Alwi and other figures of former rebel group PRRI-Permesta under Gen. Ali Moertopo, to start networking and then negotiating with Tun Razak, then deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Malaysia. The intensive dialogue brought Gianto close to Tan Sri Ghazali, then permanent secretary of the Malaysian Foreign Ministry, and the two became good friends.

As history has shown, the ending Konfrontasi was one of the achievements of Pak Ali, and Gianto was a very effective assistant to the general.

During the time of the Act of Free Choice of Papua (then known as West Irian), Pak Ali’s team was present, and as usual Gianto was the one who organized the logistics for the team. This effort was a very important step to keep Papua part of Indonesia. The result of the act of free choice was sanctified by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1969.

The world’s recognition of Indonesia’s sovereignty over Papua has always been the most important wish and goal of the Indonesian people since the proclamation of independence on Aug. 17, 1945. The founding fathers envisioned Indonesia as a unitary state that covered the territory of the Dutch East Indies. Again, Gianto was an important actor of the mission to uphold territorial integrity.

Gianto’s help and support for the Golongan Karya (Golkar) Party was also admirable. Pak Ali served as an active member of the Board of Advisors of Golkar since 1969, and Gianto was there to support him, although he stayed out of the party as he was an active military officer. It was critical for Soeharto to ensure Golkar wins the first general election of 1971 over nine political parties. Gianto’s contribution was immense, but he was always in the background and quiet.

When assisting Pak Ali, who served as the information minister, Gianto also made a lot of contributions. It was a challenging time because of Pak Ali’s ill health — Pak Ali had a heart attack when visiting Kuala Lumpur early in his job as information minister in 1978. Gianto assisted Pak Ali until the latter’s demise in May 1983.

No doubt Sugianto is a hero for Indonesia. He was buried at the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery in South Jakarta.

He is really a quiet hero — never showed off, never told others what he had done for the state, the nation and the people. Rest in peace Mas (brother) Gi. Thank you for all your work and sacrifices.  May God bless you in Heaven.

 ***

The writer is vice chair, board of trustees, CSIS Foundation

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