Try Sutrisno

Try Sutrisno (born 15 November 1935) is an Indonesian retired army general who served as the sixth vice president of Indonesia from 1993 to 1998.

Try Sutrisno was born on 15 November 1935 in Surabaya, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).

His father, Subandi, was an ambulance driver, and his mother, Mardiyah, was a housewife.

Following the proclamation of Indonesian Independence in 1945, the Indonesian National Revolution began.

Try and his family moved from Surabaya to Mojokerto.

His father then worked as a medical officer for the Poncowati Army Battalion, forcing Try to stop his schooling and make a living as a cigarette and newspaper seller.

At age 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.

Try's duty was to find information on 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 joined Army Technical Academy (Atekad) in 1956.

He passed an entrance examination but then failed the physical examination.

Despite this, Major General Djatikoesoemo took interest in Try and summoned him back.

Try participated in a psychological examination in Bandung, West Java, and was then accepted into the (Atekad) as a cadet.

Try's first Military experience was in 1957, when he fought against the PRRI Rebellion.

Born in Surabaya, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), Try graduated from the Army Technical Academy in 1959.

The rebellion was led by 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 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Indonesian Army.

Try's early experience in the 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, where he had started his career.

As Regional Commander, Try moved to suppress the crime rate as well as stopping lead smuggling.

He even participated in an environmental campaign to return Sumatran elephants to their natural habitats.

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, Sgt. 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 discouraging women from wearing 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.

During his career, Try held the positions of Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Army (1986–1988) and Commander of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia (1988–1993).