My Book: “The Late General
Basoeki Rachmat and
Supersemar (11 March Order) (Jakarta: Gramedia Widiasarana Indonesia, 1998)
told: On September 30, 1965, a group calling itself the 30 September Movement killed six senior Army generals, seized control of the center of Jakarta and issued a number of decrees over Republic of Indonesia Radio. Soeharto and his allies defeated the movement, but Soekarno was fatally weakened. The Army accused its long standing rival, the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), of being behind the "coup attempt" and an anti-Communist purge ensued. Over the next few months, Soeharto and the army seized the initiative, and during a cabinet meeting (which Soeharto did not attend), troops without insignia surrounded the presidential palace where the meeting was being held. Soekarno was advised to leave the meeting, and did so, flying to the presidential palace in Bogor, 60 km south of Jakarta, by helicopter. Later that afternoon, three Army generals, Maj. Gen.
Basoeki Rachmat, Minister for Veteran Affairs, Brig. Gen. M Jusuf, Minister for Basic Industry and Brig. Gen. Amirmachmud, Commander of the V/Jaya Jakarta Military Area Command, visited Soekarno and came away with the signed
Supersemar, which they then presented to Suharto. The next day, Soeharto used the powers thus conferred on him to ban the PKI, and on March 18, fifteen Soekarno loyalist ministers were arrested. Soeharto changed the composition of the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly (MPRS), and in March 1967 it voted to strip Soekarno of his powers and appointed Soeharto acting president. In 1968, the MPRS removed the word 'acting', and Soeharto remained in power until toppled by the Indonesian Revolution of 1998..