Widodo Budidarmo

Police General Drs. Widodo Budidarmo (1 September 1927 – 5 May 2017) was the Chief of the Indonesian National Police (Kapolri) from 1976 to 1978, being the first Protestant National Police Chief.

Profile

The eldest child of a sugar factory cashier, Widodo, was born in Kapaskamprung Village, east of Surabaya, on 1 September 1927. Widodo received his general education at a Hollandsch-Inlandsche School from 1933 to 1941, then continued to a Technical School from 1942 to 1945. During his high school education, he participated in the Indonesian War for Independence in East Java, as part of a Student's Brigade.

Widodo then entered the police force, and studied at the School of Police Science until he graduated in 1955. After that, he served as the Head of the Police Organization Division in Purwakarta for three years, from 1956 to 1959 and participated in Operations against the Darul Islam rebellion in West Java.

In early 1960, he went to the United States to study at the US Coast Guard Officers Candidate School, and completed in 1960. Returning from the US, Widodo served as head of the Greater Jakarta Police Operations Division (1960) and became heads of several divisions, becoming commander of the Air and Water Corps (1963), regional commander of Police II North Sumatra (1968), and head of Regional Police VII Metro Jaya from 1970 to 1976. Widodo was responsible for direct security operations during 1971 general election in Jakarta; after the election he secured the MPR-RI General Assembly which took place in Jakarta. Widodo was appointed a Member of the MPR-RI.

After serving as Chief of the Jakarta Police, on 25 June 1976, Widodo was appointed by President Suharto as national police chief. He served as chief of the National Police from 1976 to 1978. He was also chosen as vice president of Interpol in 1976.