KNews.id- Saturday morning, December 6, 1975, at Halim Perdanakusumah Airport. Luhut Binsar Panjaitan is still a lieutenant. He was commander of Company A Combat Detachment (Denpur) 1st Command of Sandi Yudha Force (Kopassandha), led by Major Atang Sutisna. Luhut saw there was a major general there. Dressed in a brown safari suit, the maje gen. spoke to Luhut and others. “I believe you will be able to take Dili.
But I also realize that some of you will surely die in battle,” said the maje gen. julius pour as written in Benny: The Tragedy of a Loyalist (2007: 196). The maje gen. is none other than Benny Moerdani. Dili was captured and many members of ABRI were killed. But Luhut was not among those killed. His career continued in the red beret.
After training in GSG 9 West Germany with Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo, in 1981 Luhut established Detachment 81 Anti Terrorist Kopassus.
There he, who was a major, became the commander and Captain Prabowo Subianto became his deputy. During his time as Commander of Detachment 81, as Hendro Subroto noted in the biography of Lieutenant General Sintong Panjaitan, Sintong Panjaitan: The Journey of a Soldier of the Commandos (2009: 450-455), Luhut had a story with Prabowo.
It is mentioned that Captain Prabowo mobilized the 81st Detachment troops in March 1983 to “secure” Benny Moerdani and several other generals. He said Benny wanted to take Soeharto. Major Luhut did not believe the issue of the coup.
Between Benny and Prabowo After the events of 1983, Luhut and Prabowo’s relationship was not good. However, according to Kivlan Zen in Conflict and Integration of the Army (2004), the relationship was once familiar when there were business interests after Luhut and Prabowo were not in the military and engrossed in the business world. The two had been together at PT Kiani Kertas (p. 98).
In the mid-1980s Prabowo bounced off a red beret. At that time Benny was the most powerful man in ABRI. According to Kivlan Zen, Luhut was among the young officers labeled as “Benny’s men” (p. 72).
Luhut himself, in Sintong’s biography, claims to have learned a lot from the patron. He said, “Mr. Benny also gave me many opportunities to work.” Furthermore, Luhut also admitted that M. Jusuf, the Commander of ABRI who often crossed with Benny, often took him to go around, including to East Timor (p. 463). One time Luhut had the idea to build technical intelligence in Detachment 81 in order to infiltrate the opponent’s defenses.
Originally the idea was conveyed to Benny, but because Benny is no longer the Commander of ABRI the idea was submitted to the new ABRI Commander, Try Sutrisno. The idea was approved and became a project called Charlie. “Charlie’s project was successfully built using the former Rajawali project long before Benny’s time,” said Luhut as noted by Hendro Subroto (p. 461).
And it was because of this project that Luhut was accused of trying to take Soeharto. Hendro Subroto stated, “Luhut was reported variously to Suharto so that he became a dead card holder.” Luhut’s career was bleak.
After Benny Moerdani’s influence began to fade in the military, Prabowo’s career became brighter by returning to the red beret. Even in 1996, Prabowo became his commander-in-chief. This is in contrast to Luhut’s career. When Prabowo succeeded, Luhut was stationed at the Infantry Weapon Center. According to Salim Said in Witnessing 30 Years of Suharto’s Authoritarian Rule (2016: 160), Luhut “became a victim of de-benny-sasi.”
The peak of Luhut’s career in red beret was not comparable to Prabowo. Luhut never held the post of Danjen, he had only ever been the Commander of Group 3 Sandi Yudha and the Commander of the Special Forces Education Center (Pusdikpassus).
Luhut was also a general who was never commander-in-chief. “Do not let the position of Pangdam (Commander of KODAM), the position of Kasdam (Chief of Staff kodam) I have never experienced,” admitted Luhut as quoted by Hendro Subroto (p. 462).
The highest territorial position he ever achieved was Commander Korem Madiun 081/Dhirotsaha Jaya in 1995. According to Sintong Panjaitan, Luhut was once the best Korem Commander in territorial meetings. Although his position did not stand out, as a soldier Luhut had to accept any orders given by his superiors. All ABRI soldiers know, do not dispute the orders of superiors. Questioning an order or position is unlawful.
Succeeding Outside The Military
After drowning in the New Order era—even though he was one of the brilliant officers—Luhut’s glory seemed to occur outside the military world. The graduate of Akabri Magelang 1970 was finally withdrawn by President Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie to become ambassador in Singapore, then Minister of Industry in the era of President Abdurrahman Wahid. Now, the older brother of diplomat Kartini Panjaitan is coordinating minister for maritime affairs.
Later, Luhut became an important person in proposing the place of TNI officers in civilian institutions or ministries—which could initially be enabled bycivilians. Until people were reminded of the Dual function of ABRI in the New Order era, when Luhut did not succeed as an officer. However, for Luhut, the placement of TNI officers in civilian positions during jokowi era is not a dual function.
Surplus colonels and generals certainly make the government dizzy. Putting them in civilian positions also seems to be the solution. Like most soldiers, Luhut and his military comrades believed that they could do anything, including civilian work. In his family, Luhut wasn’t the only one ever in the red beret.
His son, Paul, is a red-shirted TNI major. While his son-in-law, Major General Maruli Simanjuntak, was also once in the red beret and is now the Commander of Paspampres. (AHM)
