Djadja becomes new city military chief
Djadja becomes new city military chief
JAKARTA (JP): Maj. Gen. Djadja Suparman, a former Brawijaya
Military Commander overseeing security in East Java, will be
sworn in today as the capital's new military chief, replacing
Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin.
Djadja, 49, has won plaudits for his success in keeping East
Java relatively safe in the wake of the mid-May rioting in major
cities across the country several days prior to then president
Soeharto's resignation.
Born in Sukabumi, West Java, on Dec. 11, 1949, Djadja, is no
stranger to the Jakarta Military Command.
From 1994 to 1995, when the then Maj. Gen. Wiranto was still
head of the Jakarta Military Command, he was assistant for
territorial affairs to the command's chief of staff, then Brig.
Gen. Sutiyoso, who is now the Jakarta governor.
He has been a close friend of Wiranto (now the Armed Forces
commander/defense minister) ever since, especially after he
assisted the Armed Forces chief organize a huge joint-services
military exercises on Natuna island, Riau, in 1996.
Djadja is married to Susanti Agustin and has two children. He
has a degree in political science from the state Open University.
Unlike his immediate predecessors, Djadja never served as an
adjutant to Soeharto.
Although he has the same rank as Sjafrie, Djadja is more
senior, having graduated from the Armed Forces academy in
Magelang, Central Java in 1972, while the former left in 1974.
He started his career as a 521st Infantry Battalion platoon
commander in Kediri, East Java, before being promoted to lead a
company in the same unit a year later. In 1975, he was assigned
to lead the operation of 508th Infantry Battalion.
He spent 1975 to 1980 as a military instructor at the Infantry
Training Center in the West Java capital of Bandung.
Several years before he returned to East Java as the chief of
the 507th Infantry Battalion in 1986, he served in the Army's
Strategic Reserves Command as commandant of an Infantry Brigade.
In 1996 he was appointed chief of staff of the Sriwijaya
Military Command overseeing security in Bengkulu, Jambi, Lampung
and South Sumatra under the command of then Maj. Gen. Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, now the Armed Forces sociopolitical affairs
chief.
He was promoted to head the Brawijaya Military Command last
August, three years after he graduated from the ABRI's staff and
command school.
Djadja was a recipient of the Satya Lencana Seroja military
medal in 1978 for his services in the military operation in East
Timor. (ivy)