Margono's inauguration was conducted in accordance with Presidential Decree of the Republic of Indonesia Number 91 TNI concerning the Dismissal and Appointment of the Commander of the TNI that was established in Jakarta on December 19, 2022.
"By God, I swear that I will be loyal to the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia that is based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia and will implement all laws and regulations as strictly as possible for the sake of my service to the nation and state," Margono stated as he took the oath as dictated by President Jokowi.
Furthermore, the Admiral also promised to conduct his duties and uphold the ethics of his position as TNI Commander.
"That in carrying out my duties, I will uphold the ethics of office and work as well as possible and with a full sense of responsibility. That I will uphold the soldier's oath," he affirmed.
After the oath taking, President Jokowi then pinned the rank and insignia and handed over the baton of the TNI commander to Margono.
Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law, and Security Mahfud M.D. and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto were present as witnesses.
The inauguration procession was also attended by Deputy President Ma'ruf Amin, fifth President of Indonesia Megawati Soekarnoputri, Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) Puan Maharani, and several leaders of high state institutions.
Earlier, at a Plenary Meeting on December 13, the DPR approved Yudo Margono, who earlier served as Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Navy, to become the TNI Commander, replacing his predecessor, General Andika Perkasa.
Commission I of the DPR also conducted a fit and proper test for the TNI Commander candidate on December 2 to hear Admiral Margono's vision and mission.
Margono, who was born in Madiun, East Java, in 1965, graduated from the 33rd batch of the Naval Academy (AAL) in 1988. After becoming a naval officer, his military career skyrocketed. During his career in the military world, Margono has served in 19 positions, including being a commander at eight different places.
He once started his career on warships. At that time, Margono was entrusted with being the Assistant Officer of the Missile Artillery Weapon Division (Aspadiv) at warship (KRI) YNS 332 (1988), Department Head of Operation in KRI Ki Hajar Dewantara 364.
His career continued to climb when he was entrusted to become the Commander of KRI Pandrong 801, KRI Sutanto 877, KRI Ahmad Yani 351, Commander of the Indonesian Naval Armed Forces Base (Lanal) Tual (2004-2008), and Commander of Lanal Sorong (2008-2010).
In 2010, he served as Commander of the Indonesian Fleet Command Eastern Region (Koarmatim) in the Fast Boat Unit (Satkat) and was later appointed as Commander of the Military Maritime Command in 2017-2018.
He was then entrusted with taking on the position of Fleet Command Commander I that occupied the western part of Indonesia's maritime territory (2018-2019) and was also appointed as Commander of the Joint Regional Defense Command (Pangkogabwilhan) I that was the main command for operations for the TNI Headquarters (2019-2020).
While serving as Pangkogabwilhan I, as a three-star officer or vice admiral, Margono was able to defuse tensions in the Natuna region, Riau Islands, due to violations by Chinese fishing vessels in 2020.
He was also actively involved in the handling of COVID-19 that hit Indonesia in March 2020. His involvement was also apparent in repatriating Indonesian citizens (WNI) from China to the country and building emergency hospitals for COVID-19 patients on Galang Island and Wisma Atlet.
With this achievement, Margono was then granted the role of Chief of Naval Staff to replace TNI Admiral Siwi Sukma Adji, who was entering retirement age in 2020.
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Translator: Indra Arief P, Resinta S
Editor: Sri Haryati
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