The Brilliant Career of Teddy Indra Wijaya, the President's Bodyguard

The nickname "Mayted" seems no longer applicable for netizens to address Major Teddy Indra Wijaya. The mid-ranking officer of the Indonesian Army, who once served as an aide to President Prabowo Subianto and the 7th President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, has been promoted by one rank after serving four months as the Secretary of the Merah Putih Cabinet.

The promotion of Teddy Indra Wijaya is outlined in an official directive from the Army Headquarters (TNI AD) numbered Sprin/674/2025. The directive states that Teddy received a regular accelerated promotion (KPRP) as stipulated in the Commander of the Armed Forces' Decision Number Kep/238/2025, which also served as the basis for issuing the directive. The document further mentions that Teddy has officially held the rank of lieutenant colonel (letkol) since February 25, 2025.

The Head of the Army Information Service, Brigadier General Wahyu Yudhayana, confirmed the news of Teddy's promotion. He also emphasized that the promotion was in accordance with the applicable regulations.

"I convey to media colleagues that the information is indeed correct. And it is already in accordance with the applicable regulations within the TNI and the legal basis (presidential regulation/perpres), administratively everything has also been fulfilled," said Wahyu, Thursday (6/3/2025).

However, referring to the Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces Regulation Number 40 of 2018 concerning the Second Amendment to the Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces Regulation Number 50 of 2015 regarding Military Personnel Promotions, there is no mention of a category for accelerated regular promotions such as the one received by Teddy. The regulation only governs regular promotions, honorary promotions, and extraordinary promotions.

In the category of regular promotions, the advancement of a TNI officer's career is determined by the length of service in rank (MDDP), which has its own timeline at each rank level. For promotion from major to lieutenant colonel, the minimum MDDP required is 18 years for officers who graduated from the Staff and Command School (Sesko) of the Armed Forces or foreign education programs equivalent to Sesko of the Armed Forces.

Meanwhile, the time frame for promotion from major to lieutenant colonel for officers who graduated from the Advanced Officer Education Program (Diklapa) is a minimum of 21 years and a maximum of 23 years. Furthermore, for officers who graduated from the Branch Officer Basic School (Sesarcab), it takes even longer, namely 25 years.

As for the category of honorary promotions, it is usually granted to those who are about to enter retirement. Meanwhile, the category of extraordinary promotions is awarded to soldiers who carry out their duties with the risk of life and limb.

As a graduate of the Military Academy (Akmil) in 2011, Teddy's career path was quite brilliant. Three years after graduating from Akmil, he began to enter the Presidential Palace because he was assigned to be an assistant to President Joko Widodo from 2014 to 2019. At that time, his rank was still a first lieutenant.

After serving in the first term of Jokowi's government, Teddy, who was born in Manado, North Sulawesi, on April 14, 1989, continued his education at the US Army Ranger School, at Fort Benning, United States. The institution is the most prestigious school in the US Army. After completing his studies at the school, he returned to Indonesia with the rank of captain.

In 2020, Captain Teddy was assigned as an aide to Prabowo Subianto, who at that time served as Minister of Defense. He was closely guarding Prabowo, even throughout Prabowo's campaign period for the 2024 Presidential Election. From that moment, Teddy's figure was widely known to the public through social media posts by Prabowo's supporters.

However, Teddy's escort had caused controversy. One of them happened during the first presidential debate on December 12, 2023. At that time, Teddy sat in the row of Prabowo supporters. The clothes he wore were the same as the supporters of the Prabowo pair who were paired with Gibran Rakabuming Raka.

The public questioned it because he still had the status of an active TNI soldier. This was clarified by the TNI and the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu). Teddy was considered not to have violated any rules. According to both, Teddy's participation on that occasion was part of his duties to guard Prabowo who had the status of Minister of Defense.

Entering 2024, Teddy's career skyrocketed. He was again promoted by his unit to the position of Deputy Commander of the 328/Dirgahayu Para Raider Infantry Battalion, on February 26, 2024 or about two weeks after the 2024 Presidential Election. At that time, he already had the rank of major and was known by the nickname "Mayted" in cyberspace.

Teddy had not even served as deputy commander of his military unit for seven months. Prabowo, who had won the 2024 presidential election, called him back. He was given a new assignment as Cabinet Secretary in the Red and White Cabinet, led by Prabowo-Gibran. Teddy was inaugurated along with other cabinet members on October 21, 2024.

In fact, Teddy did not need to give up his status as an active TNI soldier to occupy one of the strategic public positions. In the era of President Prabowo, the Cabinet Secretary, which was previously a ministerial-level position, was changed to be under the Ministry of State Secretariat whose officials are equivalent to echelon II officials.

Now, while still Cabinet Secretary, Teddy only waited 128 days to get another promotion. From major to lieutenant colonel.

Just like his personal figure which is popular on social media, Teddy's career journey has also become a topic of conversation, both on various social media platforms and military members. Major General (Ret.) TB Hasanuddin, for example.

Hasanuddin, who is now a member of Commission I of the House of Representatives from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction, questioned Teddy's promotion. So far, military promotions are generally carried out two periods in one year, namely on April 1 and October 1.

The custom is only exempted for high-ranking TNI officers who can be promoted at any time as needed. There is also a category of extraordinary promotion given to soldiers who have achieved and shown extraordinary courage on the battlefield. However, so far there has been no term for regular acceleration promotion like what happened to Teddy.

"The promotion of Major Teddy to Lieutenant Colonel does not seem to be in accordance with the usual rules," he said when contacted, Friday (7/3/2025).

The Military Secretary during the era of the 5th President of the Republic of Indonesia, Megawati Soekarnoputri, admitted that he had just heard the term regular acceleration promotion. He also questioned whether the mechanism could apply to all TNI soldiers or only certain soldiers. "Then this regular acceleration promotion only applies to Major Teddy or applies to all soldiers," said Hasanuddin.

He reminded that the TNI's openness to the public regarding the process of appointment and promotion in the TNI environment is very important. The TNI must explain openly, so that what happened to Teddy and the TNI institution in general, does not become a question in the public.

Meanwhile, Kompas has confirmed Teddy's promotion. As of Friday night, he had not responded to questions sent via online text message.

Mayted, is it true that netizens now have to call you Letted? or Letkolted?