Air Marshal Omar Dhani, the Indonesian Commander of the National Air Force has passed away on 24th July 2009 at the age of 85 years. For last couple of days of he was being treated for complication of diseases at the Air Force Hospital near the Halim Perdanakusuma airbase in East Jakarta. One of Omar’s sons-in-law, Tomi Setiotomo, told Antara state news agency the Air Force chief under founding president Sukarno had been hospitalized for 30 days about three months ago for lung problems. He was born in the year 1924 at Solo of Central Java. He enrolled in the Air Force Academy in August 1950 and later, in 1956, attended the Royal Air Force Staff College, Andover in Great Britain.

In January 1962, he became Minister and Commander of the Air Force. After that due to his support for Sukarno, and apparent support for the 30 September Movement in 1965, he was send to jail by the new government led by Suharto after the downfall of President Sukarno. In 1995, President Soeharto granted him clemency in June 1995 and he was released from jail becoming one of the main sources for research into the Air Force's role during the coup.