The 17 October affair () was an event during which Indonesian soldiers pressured the president to disband the Provisional People's Representative Council, at the behest of the administration's chief of staff, along with the commander of the armed forces. The demand was made of President Sukarno while the Merdeka Palace was surrounded.
Due to tensions regarding potential army reorganization to conserve budgets, the Indonesian Army's high command disputed with the parliament regarding excessive civilian meddling in military affairs. After the dismissal of a pro-government officer in July 1952, the parliament began demanding a significant restructuring of armed forces leadership. After three months, tensions culminated in thousands of demonstrators mobilized by the army in Jakarta. Sukarno managed to temper the demonstrators and assure the army officers but refused to concede to any demands. Soon after the incident, a significant proportion of the army's high command was replaced, including Nasution and Simatupang.
Background
During 1952, the Indonesian government faced a fiscal crisis due to a drop in government revenues and current account deficits as the economic boom due to the Korean War levelled out. Government officials under the Wilopo Cabinet began cutting down on expenses, including civilian and military service members, which would include 60,000 soldiers being retired. Demobilization after the Indonesian National Revolution had occurred in the past, but not many had been forcefully retired. Beyond the demobilization, the Indonesian Army had also undergone a "reorganization" program involving many demotions or transfers of local military commanders, which was unpopular among them. This generally split the army into two factions: those who preferred reorganization and worked with the civilian administration's budget reduction programs and the traditional military officers at risk of reorganization, including many officers trained by Japanese occupation forces before independence, under the PETA organization. This reorganization process had been coordinated by the Army's leadership, including Armed Forces Chief Tahi Bonar Simatupang and Army Chief of Staff Abdul Haris Nasution.
For 1952, three-quarters of the army's budget was spent on salaries, limiting the amount of purchasable equipment for renewal, and even so the salary allocations were minimal. In mid-1952, the army reorganizers decided to begin a demobilization process late that year, which would demobilize 80,000 soldiers, out of 200,000 at that time. While pensions would be provided, the plan was unpopular among many of the rank and file to be discharged and among the traditional officers. These traditional officers had strong connections with President Sukarno's Indonesian National Party (PNI) and other opposition parties. Sukarno himself had been opposed to many of the changes in the army and had occasionally intervened in the personnel policy. Between June and July 1952, one Colonel Bambang Supeno, a distant relative of Sukarno's, began to gather support to petition for the removal of Nasution from army leadership. After a tense meeting of regional commanders and a letter from Supeno criticizing his superiors to the civilian government, he was removed from his post on 17 July. Supeno was one of the most senior army officers who had formulated an official military code of principles and was a supporter of the "traditional" faction, espousing that the army should focus on local defense and the utilization of its abundant workforce.