ABRI has new spokesman

JAKARTA: Former Army intelligence officer Brig. Gen. Slamet Supriyadi was installed as chief of Armed Forces' Information Center yesterday, replacing Maj. Gen. Amir Syarifuddin who has been promoted to a supervisory position.

"This is a new career challenge for me," Supriyadi said after a transfer-of-duty ceremony at the Armed Forces (ABRI) headquarters. He expressed his hopes for improved cooperation from all quarters, including journalists.

Born in Purwokerto, Central Java, in 1948, Supriyadi promised he would never call up individual reporters or newspapers to tell them how to cover the military.

A 1971 graduate of the ABRI Military Academy, Supriyadi spent almost half of his career in the Army's special force and the other half in the Armed Forces' intelligence department.

He was a special forces platoon commander in the 1970s, then chief of the East Jakarta District Military Command and then assistant to the head of the intelligence unit of the Jakarta Regional Military Command.

He was next assigned to be assistant to the Central Java Regional Military Command's Sociopolitical Affairs chief and then became Solo Military Commander in 1995 before he was appointed to be ABRI's chief spokesman.

Supriyadi was one of the 16 officers promoted Monday in a ceremony led by ABRI Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung. (imn)