Sarwo Edhie Wibowo

Lieutenant General (Ret.) Sarwo Edhie Wibowo (25 July 1925 – 9 November 1989) was an Indonesian military leader and the father of Kristiani Herrawati, the former first lady of Indonesia and the wife of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and also the father of Chief of Staff Pramono Edhie Wibowo. As an army colonel he played a direct role in directing troops during the Indonesian killings of 1965–66, in which more than half a million Indonesian civilians died. With Suharto's blessing, Wibowo initiated the slaughter. Later, he served as Chairman of the BP-7 center, as Indonesia's ambassador for South Korea and as governor of the Indonesian Military academy. Early life Sarwo Edhie was born in Purworejo, Central Java to a family of civil servants working for the Dutch Colonial Government. As a child, he learned silat as a form of self-defense. As he grew up, Sarwo Edhie formed an admiration for the Japanese Army and their victories against the Allied Forces stationed in the Pacific and Asia. In 1942, when the Japanese took control of Indonesia, Sarwo Edhie went to Surabaya to enlist with the Defenders of the Motherland Army (PETA), a Japanese-run auxiliary force consisting of Indonesian soldiers.