Biography of Ali Moertopo the Pioneer of Intelligence Modernization

Ali Moertopo the Pioneer of Intelligence Modernization

The New Order has been in power for 32 years in Indonesia and has changed many joints of life in this country. Ali Moertopo has a big contribution in the process of change. There is an opinion that said that if the king of the New Order was Suharto, then Ali Moertopo was his governor.

Lieutenant General (ret.) Ali Moertopo born in BIora, Central Java, on September 23, 1924 was known as a prominent activist, strategist and politician. He has competence in the field of intelligence, and has a significant role in modernizing the post-1965 state intelligence agency.

Ali Moertopo along with Soedjono Hoemardhani, Soeharto's personal assistant, had a major role in strengthening the roots of the New Order's power, so that it could last for 32 years. The New Order think tank, the Center of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) formed in 1971 was the work of them. This institution has credibility among academics, and the results of its research are recognized internationally. The results of CSIS's research have become a reference when academics want to analyze the direction of the New Order regime's policies.

Ali Moertopo was a think tank behind the New Order government. The New Order is famous for its five-year development program (Pelita), and is also famous for silencing political aspirations. All of that is the idea of Moertopo, an intelligence-based soldier who is also a thinker and analyst. The idea contained in his book entitled Basics of Thought about the Acceleration of Modernization of the Development of 25 Years (1972) was accepted by the MPR as a long-term national development strategy.

Until the decade of the 90s, Suharto was still consistent with the strategy of phasing development, and had officially stated it had surpassed the long-term development phase I (PJP I). In 1968, Ali Moertopo had also initiated the fusion of many political parties into a handful of parties, which could thus be more easily controlled by the government. The idea was realized in 1973, after all parties fused into three parties only: Golkar, PPP (the result of fusion of party parties with the pattern of Islam), and PDI (fusion of nationalist-style parties). Freedom of politics is also accompanied by fusion-colored frost. The situation of freezing political freedom lasted for a quarter century. Ali Moertopo also intensely carried out various actions which increasingly made the New Order strong

Through Special Operations (Opsus), he crushed pro-democracy activists and opposition who dared to speak out against the New Order regime. This "bulldozer" organization is so effective and feared by pro-democracy figures. The army intelligence agency was developed in such a way that it became a kind of early warning tool for the authorities to suppress political opponents. Ali Moertopo, who was the Head of the Intelligence Coordination Agency (Bakin) and Minister of Information of the Republic of Indonesia (1978-1983), died on the afternoon of May 15, 1984 due to a heart attack.

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