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)