Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan

His father, Bonar Pandjaitan (1897–1982), was a retired army who became a Sibualbuali bus driver and executive of Caltex Petroleum Corp in Indonesia and was sent to Cornell University in the United States.

His mother, Siti Farida Naiborhu (1917–2000), was an ordinary woman who did not complete elementary school.

Luhut would later say that despite his mother's lack of formal education, she taught her five children to always be honest, study hard, and work hard.

When Luhut was three years old, the family moved to Riau province, where his father took a job with Caltex.

They lived in Rumbai district, where Luhut attended Yayasan Cendana Elementary School, which was owned by Caltex.

He later attended junior high school in Pekanbaru.

Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan (EYD: Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, born 28 September 1947) is an Indonesian politician, businessman, and retired four-star Army general who has been serving as Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment since October 2019.

Luhut was born on 28 September 1947 in Simargala, a small hamlet in Toba, North Sumatra, as the eldest child and only son of the five children.

Luhut became a keen swimmer, practicing in the Siak River, and represented Riau at a national sports event in 1962.

Despite his athletic success, his parents felt he misbehaved because he liked to get into a fight, so they sent him to school in Bandung, West Java.

Luhut attended SMAK 1 PENABUR High School in Bandung.

In his final year of high school, he met Devi Simatupang, his future wife.

Also in Bandung, he became one of the founders of the Indonesian Student Action Front (KAPI) and protested against founding President Sukarno's Old Order and the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI).

In 1967, Luhut entered the Indonesian Armed Forces Academy, against the wishes of his father.

Three years later, he received the Adhi Makayasa annual award conferred on the best graduate.

Luhut experienced action during the Malari anti-government riots in Jakarta on 15 January 1974.

He was ordered to lead a company of troops to quell rioters in Pasar Senen in Central Jakarta.

He said the rioters, who were no longer student protesters, began throwing stones at his troops.

Luhut responded by ordering his men to fire warning shots, but he said this did not affect the rioters.

He then ordered his men to shoot at the legs of the rioters, and he suspected several were killed in the ensuing chaos as troops were not equipped with rubber bullets.

His men chased the rioters to Jalan Juanda, to Glodok, and even to the Kramat Tunggak brothel complex in North Jakarta, where Luhut arrested human rights activist Johannes Cornelis Princen.

Luhut served four times in East Timor, first as a 28-year-old in the December 1975 Indonesian invasion force.

At that time he held the rank of first lieutenant and was the commander of Combat Detachment A Company (Denpur) in the Sandi Yudha Troop Command (Kopassandha, later Kopassus), led by Major Atang Sutisna.

Around midnight on 7 December 1975, eight C-130B Hercules departed from Magetan, East Java, and six hours later reached Dili airspace.

The Indonesian soldiers began to parachute in but were met by a barrage of anti-aircraft fire.

Taking evasive action, the eight Hercules flew away and 72 personnel did not jump, Luhut among them.

Luhut's career continued in the Army's elite Special Forces (Kopassus), known as the Red Berets.

After undergoing training at GSG 9 in West Germany with Prabowo Subianto for 22 weeks in 1981, Luhut in June 1982 established the Kopassus Anti-Terrorism Detachment 81.

With the rank of infantry major, he was commander of Detachment 81 and infantry captain Prabowo was his deputy.

He was also Minister of Trade and Industry in President Abdurrahman Wahid's cabinet and Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore from 1999 to 2000.

Luhut's military positions included Commander of the Army's elite Special Forces (Kopassus) Group 3, Commander of the Infantry Weaponry Center (Pussenif), and head of the Army Education and Training Command (Kodiklat).

He was the founding commander of Detachment 81 (now Sat-81/Gultor), the counter-terrorism unit of Kopassus, where his deputy was Prabowo Subianto.

After retiring from the military, in 2004 he founded Toba Sejahtra Group, which has interests in natural resources (oil, gas, and mining), electricity generation (coal, gas and geothermal) and agriculture (palm oil).

Luhut is chairman of Del Foundation, which has established schools and a technology college for underprivileged students.

He is also the founder of the Luhur Bakti Pertiwi Foundation, an institution that aims to nurture young Indonesian talents.

According to Hendro Subroto's biography of Lieutenant General Sintong Panjaitan, Perjalanan Seorang Prajurit Para Komando (published 2009), Prabowo in March 1983 put Detachment 81 forces on alert because he feared military chief Benny Moerdani and other generals were planning a coup against Suharto.

Luhut did not believe there was any coup plot and ordered the troops not to take action without his command.

Subsequently, the relationship between Luhut and the ambitious Prabowo soured, as Luhut was among the young officers viewed as one of "Benny's men".

In 2011, Luhut received Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Social Development category.

He previously served in various posts in his political career, including the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs from July 2016 to October 2019, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs from August 2015 to July 2016, and Chief of Staff to President Joko Widodo.