Jakarta has new military commander

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Amid mounting political tension in the city ahead of the planned People's Consultative Assembly annual session in August, the Indonesian Military (TNI) has assigned Maj. Gen. Achmad Yahya, the outgoing Wirabuana Military Commander, to maintain security and order here.

Yahya, a 1971 graduate of the Armed Forces Academy (Akabri), is to replace Lt. Gen. Bibit Waluyo, who was earlier assigned to head the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad).

The two plan to participate in the formal handing over of the command baton on Thursday at the Jakarta Military Command Headquarters at Cililitan, East Jakarta.

The appointment of Yahya to head the Jakarta Military Command might seem surprising to many, considering that he failed to stop prolonged sectarian conflicts in Poso, Central Sulawesi, while he was on charge there from July 2000.

During the recent fresh violence in Poso, which erupted in December last year, hundreds were killed, while thousands of others were forced to leave their homes and become refugees.

Yahya was also the Jakarta Military Command chief of staff from 1999 to 2000, when two bloody incidents, known as Semanggi I and Semanggi II, occurred here.

The Semanggi I incident took place when security personnel, in an attempt to ensure that Soeharto's successor, B.J. Habibie, remained in office, clashed with student protesters.

The Semanggi II incident occurred when students marched to protest a House of Representatives session set to approve legislation that would have permitted the state to commit acts of repression against its citizens.

The military repression took several lives, including that of students.

At that time, former Kostrad chief Lt. Gen. Djadja Suparman was in charge as Jakarta Military Commander.

Nevertheless, Yahya asserted that he would be able to maintain control in Jakarta during the Assembly's annual session, saying that "maintaining security and order here is not merely the TNI's duty, but also that of all elements of society."

"I believe that people will be happy to cooperate with us (the military) to ensure peace here," Yahya told reporters here on the sidelines of a welcome ceremony held at its headquarters on Wednesday.