Basuki Rahmat, Indonesian General and a witness to the signing of the Supersemar document
Basuki Rahmat Basuki Rahmat was an Indonesian General and a witness to the signing of the Supersemar document transferring power from President Sukarno to General Suharto. Basuki Rahmat was born on 4 November 1921 in Tuban, East Java. His father, Raden Soedarsono Soenodihardjo, was assistant to a local district chief. His mother, Soeratni, died in January 1925 when Basuki was only four years old, ten days after giving birth to another son. When he was seven, Basuki was sent to elementary school. In 1932 his father died, resulting in a temporary halt to Basuki's education. He was sent to live with his father's younger sister and finished his education, graduating from junior high school in 1939 and from the Yogyakarta Muhammadiyah school in 1942, just as the Japanese invasion of Indonesia started. In 1943, During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, Basuki joined the Defenders of the Motherland Army, an auxiliary force ran by the Japanese to train extra soldiers in the cas...