ABRI spokesman moves up

ABRI spokesman moves up

JAKARTA (JP): Maj. Gen. Syarwan Hamid was sworn in as new
assistant to the chief of the socio-political department of the
Armed Forces (ABRI) yesterday, replacing Maj. Gen. Hari Sabarno.

Syarwan will momentarily retain his post as the ABRI spokesman
and Hari Sabarno is participating in the regular course at the
National Resilience Institute, awaiting new posting.

Syarwan was once spokesman for the Siliwangi military command
of West Java, commandant of the Lhokseumawe military district in
Aceh and spokesman for the Army.

Graduating from the National Military Academy in 1966, he
began his career in 1967 when he joined an infantry battalion in
Bali before heading the intelligence section of the Mataram
military district in Lombok.

In the swearing-in ceremony, chief of the ABRI socio-political
affairs department, Mohammad Ma'ruf said that the Armed Forces'
role in politics would intensify in the future.

Ma'ruf, a former governor of the institute, said that the
socio-political department's task to assist the ABRI commander
would be more complex.

"ABRI officers will play their role as the stabilizing and
dynamical force in the development of the nation," he said,
reported Antara.

He said that, in the future, ABRI should be more pro-active in
handling social problems.

"So far ABRI has played a strategic role in the development of
Indonesian politics," he said. (pan)