Soetran

Soetran (5 April 19211 July 1987) was an Indonesian military officer and politician who served as the Regent of Trenggalek from 1968 until 1975 and as the Governor of Irian Jaya from 1975 to 1981.

Born in Sidoarjo, Soetran dropped out of elementary school and settled down to become a soldier.

Soetran was born on 5 April 1921 in Cangkring Village, a small village in Sidoarjo, East Java, to a working-class family.

Due to his father's blindness, Soetran dropped out of elementary school in the 4th grade and began to work at various jobs, such as a farmer, entertainer, and a ludruk performer.

He joined the Defenders of the Homeland in 1942 with the rank of budancho. He was later transferred to Merauke and Trenggalek as a commander.

In 1942, following the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, Soetran joined the Defenders of the Homeland organization, a volunteer army organization formed by the Japanese.

He was given the rank of budancho (equivalent to a sergeant).

After the Indonesian independence, he joined the People's Security Bureau (the forerunner of the Indonesian National Armed Forces) and was put in command of a squad in the Tjipto Battalion.

After the Indonesia National Revolution ended in 1949, Soetran enrolled in the officer course and graduated as a first lieutenant in 1950.

He then enrolled in several other military education programs, such as Preparation Course for Officers in 1956 and Advanced Officers Course in 1957.

In 1958, Soetran served as the Deputy Commander of the 511th Infantry Battalion with the rank of First Lieutenant, and he was promoted four years later to the rank of Captain and became the battalion's commander.

Less than a year, in 1963, he was transferred to Irian Jaya and became the commander of the Tanah Merah Military District in Merauke.

In 1967, he was reassigned to East Java, promoted to Mayor, and became the commander of the Trenggalek Military District.

Soetran became the regent of Trenggalek in 1968.

His leadership in the region was characterized by his command approach.

He managed to transform the region into a center of clove production.

He also enacted the tembokisasi (construction of walls) and reforestation in the region in an attempt to increase the standards of living.

On 3 October 1968, Soetran was inaugurated as the Regent of Trenggalek, replacing Moeladi.

Before his term, Trenggalek was known as a poverty-stricken area.

Trenggalek frequently experienced long periods of dry season, causing droughts in the area.

Gaplek, the staple food source in the region, could not be grown during this period.

Following Soetran's rise to the regent office in Trenggalek, Soetran began to seek a solution for this problem.

After experimenting with several high-valued commodities, Soetran found out that Cloves could grow well in the Trenggalek region.

Slowly, Soetran began to oblige Trenggalek's populace to cultivate clove.

The project yielded its results not long after it was commenced.

The barren lands of Trenggalek transformed into green clove plantations and the region became the center of clove production in East Java.

Although clove plantations only covered about 16% of the arable lands in Trenggalek, clove cultivation managed to yield an additional 21 trillion rupiahs per year for Trenggalek's populace.

The region later became identical with clove, and the populace began to rely solely on Cloves.

Donald K. Emmerson, a political professor, credited Trenggalek's development under Soetran on his self-styled "commando" approach.

According to Emmerson, Soetran assumed full responsibility on the development process in the region and ran the government as an extension of himself.

Prior to his appointment as the regent, government offices, military offices, and houses in Trenggalek were in bad condition.

Soetran attempted to improve this problem by initiating the Tembokisasi program which aimed at remodeling Trenggalek's cityscape.

The program encouraged Trenggalek's populace to construct walls in their houses and villages.

He was elected to a second term in 1973, and the region received an award as the best-performing region in 1974.

For his achievements in Trenggalek, Soetran was elected as the Governor of Irian Jaya in 1975.

Under his leadership, the province experienced two consecutive earthquakes in 1976.

In 1980, at the end of his term as the Governor of Irian Jaya, Soetran was promoted from colonel to brigadier general.

He ended his term in 1981, four months longer than scheduled.

Soetran moved to Surabaya following his resignation as governor.

He died in 1987.