Endriartono closer to TNI chief post
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto moved a step closer to the Indonesian Military (TNI)'s top post after current TNI chief Adm. Widodo A.S. extended Endriartono's term of service another five years.
The extension will allow Sutarto, who will reach the mandatory retirement age of 55 late in April, to serve until 2007.
Widodo said on Thursday the TNI was still in need of Endriartono's services, but he stopped short of saying if the extension of Endriartono's term of service was related to the race for the TNI's top post.
"It is a common thing to prolong an officer's period of service as part of the personnel development in the TNI. The main reason is because we still need him (Endriartono) to conduct his duties," Widodo said after a Cabinet meeting.
The prerogative to appoint a TNI chief belongs to the president as the supreme commander of the armed forces, according to the Constitution. But People's Consultative Assembly decree No. VII/2000 on the role of the military and the police stipulates that the nomination and dismissal of the TNI commander is subject to approval from the House of Representatives.
Widodo signed Decree No. 199/II/2002 on Feb. 28, which extends Endriartono's career from May 1, 2002, through April 30, 2007.
Widodo also had his term of service extended before taking up the TNI top job in 1999.
A TNI internal regulation stipulates that the TNI chief has the prerogative to extend an officer's term of service. A full general can be awarded an extension of up to five years, a lieutenant general up to four years, a major general up to three years, a brigadier general up to two years and a colonel one year.
The TNI chief is supposed to give the president prior notice regarding the career planning of a four-star general.
House legislator Djoko Susilo of the Reform faction said Widodo's decision indicated that Endriartono would be nominated as the new TNI chief, over nearest rival and Army chief of staff predecessor Gen. Tyasno Sudarto.
Megawati has reportedly ordered that one nominee be selected to be presented to the House.
Although he did not object to the possible nomination of Endriartono, Djoko questioned if enough thought had gone into the decision.
He suggested that the next commander of the military come from the Air Force, in attempt to uphold fairness among the nation's armed forces.
The chairman of House Commission I for political and security affairs, Ibrahim Ambong, said he had not received a copy of a letter from President Megawati Soekarnoputri regarding the nomination of the new TNI chief.
"If we received such a letter, the nomination would be announced at a plenary meeting on Monday," Ambong told The Jakarta Post.
Sources close to the TNI told the Post that Megawati would forward Endriartono's nomination for TNI chief to the House on March 22, the day when Endriartono hands over the Army chief post to the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) chief Lt. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu.
Megawati will install the new TNI chief after she returns from an overseas trip on April 5, the sources said.
But Widodo refused to confirm the change of guard in the Army.
"I haven't heard anything about that," he said.