president displeased many in the Armed Forces (ABRI). Although Sudharmono himself was a soldier and had ended his career with the rank of Lieutenant General, he was disliked by many in the military due to the fact that he had spent much of his career behind the desk instead of leading troops on the ground. Suharto was aware of this and, before the ABRI could do anything, placed ABRI commander Benny Moerdani as Minister of Defense and Security, a position which had no direct line of command to the troops. Replacing him with Try Sutrisno, who had been Suharto's adjutant. When the nomination was finally taken up through the official channels within Golkar, the Bureaucrats and Functional factions unanimously agreed to nominate Sudharmono as vice president. While the ABRI faction's nomination was delayed, with Benny Moerdani continuing to procrastinate by claiming that he had not discussed the vice presidential nomination yet. Rumors that Sudharmono was a communist were spread by ABRI, accusing him of being a member of Pesindo (Pemuda Sosialis Indonesia), a youth socialist organization. At the General Session itself, which lasted from 1–11 March 1988, controversy continued to dog Sudharmono's nomination as vice president. First, Brigadier General Ibrahim Saleh interrupted the session and launched a scathing attack against Sudharmono before he was taken down from the podium by other MPR members. Then, Sarwo Edhie Wibowo, a general who had helped Suharto get to power in the mid-1960's resigned from both his MPR and People's Representative Council (DPR) seat in protest. Finally, United Development Party Chairman, Jailani Naro nominated himself as vice president, presumably with the private backing in ABRI, who in public supported Sudharmono's nomination; ABRI's support was likely only in opposition to Sudharmono. The chaos of the session resulted in the intervention by Suharto. He cited a decision that the MPR made in 1973 that one of the criteria for a vice president was that he should be able to work with the President. Suharto also conducted discussions with Naro and convinced him to withdraw the nomination. With Naro out of the way, Sudharmono was elected vice president. Tenure As vice president, Sudharmono was reported to be extremely active in governing. He issued a policy to form Tromol Pos 5000 as a means of monitoring the community and he began to consolidate politics by visiting the provinces, departments (ministries), State Offices and other institutions. He also held