Air Force officer named to key TNI's post

Air Force officer named to key TNI's post

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Military (TNI) conducted a major reshuffle with
the appointment of Vice Marshall Wartoyo as chief of TNI general
affairs, the first-ever promotion of a member of the Air Force to
such a high position -- second overall -- in the military's
command structure.

Wartoyo, current deputy chief of the Air Force, will replace
Lt. Gen. Djamari Chaniago who is retiring in April. Rear Marshall
Herman Prayitno was promoted to take Wartoyo's current position.

TNI Chief spokesman Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsuddin told The
Jakarta Post that there was nothing special or strange in the
reshuffle as it is done every April and October.

It is the first time for the Air Force to be entrusted with
such a high position at the Cilangkap TNI Headquarters since 1965
following allegations of collusion with coup plotters -- widely
blamed by the New Order government and Army figures on the now
defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), however no independent
investigation has conclusively identified the perpetrators.

The top TNI position, which has been dominated by the Army was
only entrusted to a Navy man when then President Abdurrahman "Gus
Dur" Wahid appointed Admiral Widodo to replace General Wiranto.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri apparently differed on many
more of her predecessor's policies than originally thought, and
decided to go back to the old way by giving an Army man the top
post.

Wartoyo's promotion is part of a long-awaited reshuffle that
involves a total of 126 high-ranking officials in the Army, Navy,
Air Force and TNI Headquarters.

Sjafrie denied that the reshuffle had anything to do with
national elections, saying no officials who ended their service
had been nominated by parties in the legislative elections on
April 5 or look to be presidential candidates for any party.

"Forty-two officials, including outgoing Chief of TNI General
Affairs Lt. Gen. Djamari Chaniago, are close to their mandatory
pension age while more than 80 others will be rotated or promoted
to higher positions," he said.

Djamari, who graduated from the Military Academy in 1971 was
in the spotlight briefly when Wiranto appointed him in May 1998
as chief of the Army's Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) to
replace Lt. Gen. Jhonny Lumintang, who was unceremoniously and
controversially axed after just 18 hours on the job.

Asked whether the replacement of Djamari with an Air Force
officer would not affect the ongoing military operation in war-
ravaged Aceh, Sjafrie said that there were no problems and the
new official would do his best for all military personnel in the
military operation.

The military leadership also appointed Col. Hotmangaradja as
Army spokesman to replace Brig. Gen. Ratyono who is also retiring
soon.

Hotmangaradja who graduated from the Military Academy in 1978
and developed his military career in the Army's Special Forces
(Kopassus) is the son of late Brig. Gen. Pandjaitan who along
with six other Army generals, was killed in the aforementioned
1965 coup attempt.