Mohd Sutarji Bin Kasmin

First Admiral (Retired) Prof. Dr Sutarji Kasmin
Born	(1951-11-05) November 5, 1951 Selangor, Malaysia
Allegiance	Malaysia
Service/branch	Royal Malaysian Navy
Years of service	1970 - 2005
Rank	First Admiral
Unit	PASKAL
Commands held	PASKAL Commander
Awards	Order of the Defender of the Realm - Officer (KSN) Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia - Companion (JSM)
Other work	Entepreneur

First Admiral Associate Professor Dato' Doctor Haji Sutarji Bin Haji Kasmin (born November 5, 1951) is an Malaysian entrepreneur and former navy special forces commander. He is a retired Royal Malaysian Navy with the last rank First Admiral. Sutardji is well known and famous for his role as godfather of PASKAL originated in 1975.

Academically, he earned his Advanced Diploma in Defence Studies from the Malaysian Armed Forces Defence College, Master of Arts in Policy & Security Studies from the National University of Malaysia & PhD in Integrated Coastal Zones Management from the University Putra Malaysia.

Early life and military career

Sutarji was born in Selangor, Malaysia. His first name Sutardji clearly shows his Javanese descent from Indonesia (indicated by the use "dj" instead of "j", which was Indonesian standard orthography from 1950s up to 1973). In January 1970, at age 19, Sutardji enlisted in the Royal Malaysian Navy as sea cadet and went through recruit training at Royal Military College in Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur. Sutarji attended the Cadet Officer with six others from April 1970 at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, England in one years. For his first few years, he assumed command of the KD Sri Kedah (1972), KD Sri Perak (1973), KD Duyung (1977), KD Lembing (1979 – 1980). After became a midshipman in 1971, he attended a diving course at KD Malaya, Woodlands, Singapore from 1973. From 1974, Sutarji attended a Basic Parachuting Course at Special Warfare Training Centre in Sungai Udang, Malacca and then he attended a Basic Jungle Commando Course at Naval Training Command, Surabaya, Indonesia in 1975. In 1975, he served at the Naval Headquarters, including 3rd Grade of Staff Members and spent one years in country.

During the 1977, he attended a series of training courses in Naval Amphibious School, Coronado, including Riverine Warfare (1977), Explosive Ordnance Disposal (1979), Senior Planning Officer Amphibious (1987), Crisis Management (1993) and Defence Resources Management (2002). He has also attended the counter-terrorism special courses in the United States Navy SEALs BUD Training Centre (1977), Royal Navy Special Boat Service (1984) and Special Air Service in 1984. Sutarji was appointed Commanding Officer of PASKAL from 1984 to 1990 and 1992 to 1994. Afterwards, he spent the rest of his service as Chief Secretary-cum-Assistant Chief of Staff (Admin) in 1996 to 1998. In 1998, he served in Malaysian Armed Forces Headquarters as Director of Malaysian Armed Forces Defence Operations; as Chief Directing Staff of the Malaysian Armed Forces Defence College; and subsequently Commandant from 2003-05.

In academic terms, he earned his Master of Arts in Policy and Security Studies from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in 1995 and his PhD in Integrated Coastal Zones Management from University Putra Malaysia in 2003, where he is currently attached to the Department of Environmental Management, University Putra Malaysia.^[1]

His last posting was as founder of PASKAL formations and first commander of this special force in 1984. He retired from service on November 30, 2005.

Post military life

After retiring, Sutarji served as a Senior Fellow at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (2005 - 2007) and Associate Professor at Universiti Putra from 2007 to 2012. In UKM, he teaches the Master of Social Sciences students in the field of strategic thinkers and maritime security. In UPM and the UNITEN faculty, he teaches the students of Master of Business Administration in the field of organizational management, strategic management and attitudes in organizations. In the year 2006, he founded BIZREKA Sdn Bhd which focuses on the development of human capital as a side career. Since then, he has attended a series of entrepreneurship courses in addition invited to give lectures on various aspects of entrepreneurship including Motivation For Entrepreneurs, Application of Sun Tzu's Art of War, Strategic Management Companies and Political Analysis and Environmental Safety. Sutardji was be a full-time entrepreneur in the Business Consulting.

Military honors

3rd class Order of Military Service (Pahlawan Angkatan Tentera)		4th class Order of Military Service (Kesatria Angkatan Tentera)		Order of the Defender of the Realm (Kesatria Mangku Negara)
Order of the Crown of Selangor - Commander (Setia Mahkota Selangor)		Order of the Crown of Selangor - Member (Ahli Mahkota Selangor)		Order of the Royal Household - Member (Bentara Setia Diraja)
Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia - Companion (Johan Setia Mahkota)

References