Kemal Idris

Ahmed Kemal Idris (10 February 1923 – 28 July 2010) was a prominent Indonesian Army general during the 1950s and 1960s. He was an Indonesian guerrilla leader during the Indonesian National Revolution, who, in 1949, continued resistance to the Dutch forces after they occupied Yogyakarta.

Poncke Princen, the Dutch soldier who went over to the guerrillas, served under Idris's command.

Idris participated in the 17 October 1952 affair in which a group of Indonesian Army officers staged a failed coup attempt that would have forced the dissolution of the People's Representative Council (DPR, the parliament) and put President Sukarno as the supreme leader of Indonesia.

Nevertheless, by 1980 Idris had a falling-out with Suharto. He was part of a group of senior Indonesian retired generals and politicians to signed a petition highlighting their concerns against Suharto's increasing authoritarian rule. This group was later known as the Petisi 50 group, highlighting the number of its signatories.

Idris died in Jakarta on 28 July 2010, due to complications from pneumonia.

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