Abdul Haris Nasution

General of the Army (Ret.) Abdul Haris Nasution was an Indonesian army general. Born into a Batak Muslim family in the North Sumateran village of Hutapungkut, in what was then the Dutch East Indies, he studied teaching and enrolled at a military academy in Bandung. After Sukarno declared Indonesia's independence on 17 August 1945, Nasution joined the fledgling Indonesian armed forces which was fighting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch. The following year he was appointed commander of the Siliwangi Division, the guerrilla unit operating in West Java. After the country's internationally recognised independence in 1949, Nasution was appointed Chief of Staff of the army. He remained in post being suspended in 1952 following a failed show of force against the president. He was reappointed Chief of Staff in 1955. In 1965 there was a coup attempt by the 30 September Movement. Nasution's house was attacked, and his daughter killed, but he managed to escape scaling a wall and hiding in the Iraqi ambassador's residence.