Edward Waldemar Pahala Tambunan was an Indonesian military figure and politician who became the Governor of North Sumatra from 1978 until 1983.
Early life
Tambunan was born on 14 January 1928 in the small town of Balige, North Sumatra. He began his education in the Hollandsch-Inlandsche School, and continued his studies at the Agricultural Junior High School.
Military career
Tambunan joined the Indonesian Army in 1945, when he became the squad commander in Sidoarjo. In the same year, he was promoted as a platoon commander. He moved to Malang, and became a military staff member in the city. In 1946, he moved to Bojonegoro, where he joined TLRI from 1946 until 1948. He became the commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 19th Ressort of the TLRI from 1947 until 1948. After the TLRI was merged into the Indonesian Army, he rejoined the army and was involved in beach defenses and the city defense of Tuban from 1948 until 1950,. He also became a member of the Indonesian delegation in a local joint committee between the Indonesian Army and the Dutch Army, which was formed in 1950. During the Indonesian National Revolution, Tambunan fought against the Dutch in various battles, such as in the Operation Product, Operation Kraai, Darul Islam, and the Madiun Affair. After the revolution, Tambunan was active as a company commander in the 5th Military Regional Command/Brawijaya from 1949 until 1952. In 1952, he enrolled as a student at the Special Infantry Course, and from 1956 until 1957, he studied at the Indonesian Army Command and General Staff College. After graduating from the college, he became a teacher for military subjects and was involved in the research and development section of the Indonesian Army. On 1 November 1968, Tambunan was promoted as a Colonel and became the Chief of Staff of the 1st Military Regional Command/Bukit Barisan, located in North Sumatra. He ended his term on 28 September 1971 and was replaced by Colonel SMT Hutagalung. He was transferred to Java, and in the same year he became the Deputy Governor of the Educational Operations in the Republic of Indonesia Armed Forces Academy. In 1974, he was transferred to Sulawesi and became the commander of the 13th Regional Military Command/Merdeka on 25 February 1974 until 8 January 1976. After his term ended, he was transferred once again to Jakarta, and assumed office as the Commander of the Indonesian Army Command and General Staff College from 3 March 1976 until 25 May 1978.
Governor of North Sumatra
On 12 June 1978, Tambunan was officially inaugurated as the Governor of North Sumatra by the Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Maraden Panggabean. The inauguration ceremony was held at the building of the Regional People's Representative Council of North Sumatra, and was attended by the Commander of the 1st Regional Defense Command G.H. Mantik. One of the main prorities during Tambunan's governorship was the creation of new subdistricts in North Sumatra. In 1981, Tambunan enacted a decree that adds 10 subdistricts in North Sumatra, specifically in Binjai, Pematangsiantar, and Sibolga. Further additions was enacted in 1982, when the administrative city of Kisaran and Padangsidempuan was formed. 5 new subdistricts was formed, with 2 subdistricts in Kisaran and 3 subdistricts in Padangsidempuan. Tambunan also formed a new post named assistant governor for the purpose of coordination, supervision, and decentralization. There were four assistant governors, each tasked with assisting the governor in four different regions. The region was centered in main cities of the province: Sibolga, Pematangsiantar, Medan, and Kisaran. In the agricultural sector, Tambunan enacted a decree about the special intensification and extensification for rice productions. This decree was inacted to counter the low output of rice in North Sumatra at that time. The INSUS status was later upgraded to a full economic operation, named as the Operasi Desa Makmur. Tambunan was also one of the initiators for the establishment of North Sumatra as the third tourist destination in Indonesia before Java and Bali. He introduced a cultural calendar, and planned several traditional festivities and activities for each month. One of the festivals, the Danau Toba Festival, continued until this day and received priority attention from the central government. Tambunan was known as a discipline and always attend events on time. At one occasion, Tambunan was invited to an event held by a government instance. The event was planned to began on 9 AM, and Tambunan was already at the event on that time, but the event organizer was not yet ready. Tambunan did not say a single word about the incident, but since then, government instances began paying attention to punctuality. Other characteristics of Tambunan was his clothing habit, on which he would always wear red songkok and teluk belanga clothing. To promote ethnic diversity in North Sumatra, Tambunan always began his speech with the greeting "Hoooi! Horas! Mejuah-juah! Ya'ahowu!". The greeting was the combination of greetings used by the four ethnics in North Sumatra, the Malay, Batak, Karo, and Nias.
