Army gives thumbs up to candidate

Army gives thumbs up to candidate

MEDAN, North Sumatra: Army Commander Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo
has given his support for Maj. Gen. Rizal Nurdin -- chief of the
Bukit Barisan Military Command overseeing North Sumatra, Aceh,
West Sumatra and Riau -- to be nominated for North Sumatra
governor for the 1998/2003 period.

Jana Sudjana, spokesman for the provincial legislature's Armed
Forces faction, said that of the 18 military officers proposed,
the Army commander had given his approval to Nurdin.

The faction received the commander's telegram regarding
Nurdin's candidacy on April 3, 1998, and the faction in turn
nominated only one candidate for the election, scheduled to be
held in the next two months.

Outgoing governor Raja Inal Siregar's term of office will end
in June.

Both Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party factions have
also given their support to Nurdin, while the United Development
Party faction has yet to propose its candidate. (21)