Syaukat Banjaransari

Syaukat Banjaransari (26 November 1936 – 2 July 2023) was an Indonesian army general and artist. He was the Military Secretary to the President from 1986 to 1992 and the Inspector General for Development from 1992 to 1996.

Early life Syaukat Banjaransari was born on 26 November 1936 in Kutoarjo, a small town in the Central Java province of the Dutch East Indies. His family later moved to Yogyakarta and he later spent most of his childhood there. Syaukat was enrolled to a People's School (equivalent to elementary school) in Yogyakarta and lived at the Merbabu Street in Yogyakarta, which also housed future president Suharto, who at that time was a military commander with the rank of lieutenant colonel. During an encounter with Suharto, Syaukat was asked by Suharto to help him pull his bicycle.

Education and military career Syaukat continued his education in Yogyakarta and graduated from the 1st Yogyakarta Junior High School and the Padmanaba Yogyakarta High School in 1957. He then attended the National Military Academy and was commissioned as an air defense artillery officer after his graduation in 1960.

Around 1979, Syaukat was posted to the Indonesian embassy in New Delhi as a military attache. Despite being an active military officer and a public official in the state secretariat, Syaukat's namecard listed his occupation as a painter. He was replaced as military secretary to the president by Brigadier General Pranowo, and he himself was reassigned as the president's inspector general for presidential instruction projects. He then became the secretary general of Indonesia's scouting movement, Gerakan Pramuka Indonesia, from 1998 until 2003, and the chairman of the Trikora Foundation, which gave financial assistance for children whose fathers perished during Operation Trikora.