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)