Ex-Aceh commanders get key posts

Ex-Aceh commanders get key posts

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Two former military operations chiefs in Aceh received strategic
posts in the latest military reshuffle, which affected several
other high-ranking officers overseeing security in other
provinces.

Maj. Gen. George Toisutta and Maj. Gen. Bambang Darmono have
been assigned respectively to head the Trikora Military Command
in Papua and the Army's Infantry Command in Bandung, West Java.

The two generals were Aceh military commanders when the
government imposed a one-year martial law in May 19, 2003.

Bambang, who led the military offensive in troubled Aceh for
six months before being replaced by George, was previously the
Indonesian Military (TNI) chief's assistant for social and
welfare affairs. Before being posted to Aceh, George was in
charge of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad)'s first
division based in Cilodong, West Java.

Bambang and George are 1974 graduates of the Armed Forces
Academy.

Two former heads of East Timor's Wiradharma Military Command
were promoted in the reshuffle. Brig. Gen. FX Suhartono Suratman
and Brig. Gen. A. Nur Muis were both acquitted of gross human
rights abuses in East Timor when it voted to break away from
Indonesia in 1999.

Suratman, the current acting TNI spokesman, will serve as the
TNI chief's expert staff on communications and social affairs. He
will be promoted to a two-star general. The new TNI spokesman
will be Maj. Gen. Kohirin Suganda, who was previously the
coordinator of the TNI chief's expert staff.

Nur Muis has been appointed the new chief of the Jakarta
Military garrison.

The outgoing head of the Trikora Military Command, Maj. Gen.
Nurdin Zainal, was assigned as the intelligence assistant to the
TNI chief of general affairs, Vice Marshall Wartoyo. Nurdin
replaces Maj. Gen. Dadi Sutanto, who was promoted to the Ministry
of Defense's director-general of defense strategy.

TNI information officer Col. A. Yani Basuki said on Tuesday 13
high-ranking military officers were promoted in these latest
personnel moves.

The reshuffle affected a total of 57 military officers,
including 31 who served at TNI Headquarters, 18 officers at Army
Headquarters and six at Navy Headquarters.

"It is a routine duty rotation of military officers," Yani
told The Jakarta Post.

The reshuffle, which was approved by TNI chief Gen.
Endriartono Sutarto, also affected the head of East Java's
Brawijaya Military Command, Maj. Gen. Achmad Djunaidi Sikki, and
the head of Sulawesi's Wirabuana Military Command, Maj. Gen.
Suprapto.

Achmad, who will soon reach retirement age, will be replaced
by Maj. Gen. Syamsul Mapareppa and will take up a non-portfolio
desk at TNI Headquarters.

Mapareppa currently heads the Army's Territorial Command. He
will be replaced in this position by Suprapto. Maj. Gen. Arief
B.S., a former infantry commander, will take over from Suprapto
as head of the Wirabuana Military Command.

The latest reshuffle also affects the Navy's Eastern Fleet
chief, Rear Adm. Susialisman, who has been named to head the
Navy's Command School. Rear Adm. Didi Heru Purnomo will fill
Susialisman's current post.