6th Vice President of Indonesia
In office 11 March 1993 – 10 March 1998
President Suharto
Preceded by Sudharmono
Succeeded by Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie
Birth date 15 November 1935 (age 76)
Birth place Surabaya, Indonesia
Political party Golkar
Spouse(s) Tuti Sutiawati
Profession Military (retired)
Religion Islam
Biography
Try Sutrisno was Indonesia's sixth vice president from 1993 to 1998. His father Subandi was an ambulance driver, and his mother Mardiyah was a housewife. After the Indonesian Proclamation of Independence, the Dutch returned to claim back Indonesia as their colony. Try and his family moved out of Surabaya to Mojokerto. His father worked as a medical officer for the Poncowati Army Battalion, forcing Try to stop his schooling and find a living as a cigarette and newspaper seller. Aged just 13, Try wanted to join the Poncowati Battalion and fight but no one took him seriously and he ended up being employed as a courier instead. Try's duty was to find information to areas occupied by the Dutch Army as well as retrieving medicine for the Indonesian Army. Finally in 1949, the Dutch retreated and recognized Indonesia's Independence. Try and his family then returned to Surabaya where he completed his education in 1956. After graduating from High School, Try wanted to enlist in ATEKAD (Army Technical Academy). He participated and passed in an entrance examination, before failing the physical examination. Despite this, Major General GPH Djatikusumo took interest of Try and summoned him back. Try participated in a psychological examination in Bandung, West Java and he was now accepted into ATEKAD.
Try's first Military experience was in 1957, when he fought against the PRRI Rebellion. The PRRI Rebellion was a group of separatists in Sumatra wishing to establish an alternative Government to that of President Sukarno's. Try completed his military education in 1959, when he graduated from ATEKAD. Try's early experience in ABRI included stints in Sumatra, Jakarta, and East Java. In 1972, Try was sent to the Army Staff College (Seskoad). In 1974, Try was chosen to be President Suharto's adjutant. Suharto took a liking to Try and from then on, Try's Military Career would skyrocket.
In 1978, Try was appointed to the position of Regional Command Chief of Staff at KODAM XVI/Udayana. A year later, he would become the Regional Commander of KODAM IV/Sriwijaya.
In 1982, Try was appointed to the Regional Commander of KODAM V/Jaya and was stationed in Jakarta. 1984 would see the Government pass a law which required all organizations whether it be political or non-political to adopt the national ideology of Pancasila as the sole guiding principle (Azas Tunggal). It would also see Islamic dissent reached its peak as preachers began teaching against the adoption of Pancasila as the national ideology, what they perceived to be the Government's Christianization, the Government's family planning program, and the dominance of the Indonesian Economy by the Chinese Indonesian population. On 7 September 1984, Sergeant Hermanu, running on an inspection run in North Jakarta, came across a Mosque with leaflets which asked for women to wear the hijab. This was a leaflet which encouraged Muslims who read it to defy the Government's policy of not letting women wear the hijab. Sergeant Hermanu asked for the leaflets to be taken down but his orders were not followed. The next day, Hermanu returned and stuck papers washed in dirty water over the leaflets to cover it up. Somehow a rumor began going around that Hermanu had defiled the Mosque by going into the prayer hall without taking his shoes off. This caused a lot of outrage and Hermanu's motorbike was burned. The Army then returned to arrest the 4 youths who burned the motorbike. Over the next few days there were protests asking for the release of the 4 youths and preachers took advantage of the situation to preach against the Government. Finally on 12 September 1984, the crowd at Tanjung Priok began attacking shops owned by Chinese Indonesians as well as going after the headquarters of the North Jakarta District Military Command (KODIM). Try, together with ABRI Commander, Benny Moerdani agreed that troops should be deployed to contain the rioters. The riot continued to get worse, according to the soldiers, the mob refused to heed the warning shots and continued charging at them with machetes and sickles. Finally the troops were forced to open fire. The Government claimed that 28 people were killed but the victims continued to insist that around 700 were killed. This episode would continue to haunt Try for the rest of his career.
Vice Presidency
Although he had accepted Try as Vice President, Suharto's displeasure at having a Vice President he did not ask for shone through as ABRI members within the Cabinet were kept to a bare minimum. For Try himself, Suharto showed little regard and did not even consult him in the cabinet formation process. Another show of disregard came In late 1997 when Suharto had to go to Germany to receive health treatment. Instead of leaving Try to execute Presidential duties, Suharto ordered State Secretary Moerdiono to come to his residence to receive Presidential duties.
An APEC Summit was also attended by Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Alatas. Try was an extremely popular figure and many thought that he would eventually replace Suharto as President of Indonesia. Because he had a military background, he would be accepted by ABRI. At the same time, he was also an acceptable candidate to Islamist elements within Indonesia, having grown up with a Muslim school. In 1998, with another MPR General Session to be held and South East Asia suffering from the Asian Financial Crisis, many wanted Try to serve a second term as Vice President. Despite strong support, Try did not assert himself and Suharto's choice for the Vice Presidency, Habibie was elected as Vice President.
Post Vice Presidency
In May 1998, on the eve of Suharto's fall, Try, together with Umar Wirahadikusumah and Sudharmono visited Suharto at his residence to discuss possible options. In 1998, Try was elected to become the Chairman of the ABRI Veterans' Union (Pepabri). He successfully kept Pepabri united as one under his Chairmanship despite the prevalent mood at the time that each branch of the Armed Forces gets their own veterans' union. Try completed his term in this position in 2003. Try also served as Party Elder for General Edi Sudrajat's Justice and Unity Party. In August 2005, Try, together with Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati Sukarnoputri, Wiranto, and Akbar Tanjung formed a forum called the National Awakening to Unity Movement (Gerakan Nusantara Bangkit Bersatu). This forum criticized Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Government for its memorandum of understanding with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) . This was followed in September 2005 with a criticism of Yudhoyono's decision to raise fuel prices. Try somewhat softened his stance with the Government after a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla in September 2005. Kalla was sent to explain the reasoning behind the policies taken towards GAM and raising fuel prices. At the end of the meeting, Try said that he can understand the Government's position and encouraged the people to back the Government in their decisions. (Source Wikipedia)
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