Jakarta has new TNI commander
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Maj. Gen. Djoko Santoso, a former Pattimura Military commander, replaced Maj. Gen. Achmad Yahya as the new Jakarta Military commander on Tuesday.
The Indonesian Military (TNI) Headquarters said Djoko's transfer to Jakarta was part of the regular rotation of top- ranking officers.
Djoko, also a former chief of security restoration operations in Ambon, replaces Yahya, who is being transferred to the Army Headquarters as the inspectorate-general.
Djoko, who was born in Surakarta, Central Java, in August 1952, is a 1975 graduate of the National Military Academy. He was appointed chief of staff of Central Java's Diponegoro Regional Military Command in 2000.
Djoko, who is married with two children, was assigned to head the Malang-based Second Division of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command in East Java in 2001.
He played an important role in ending conflicts in Indonesia's eastern islands, capped by the signing of the Feb. 12, 2002, Malino peace deal to end the sectarian conflict in Maluku.
Djoko will face a daunting task in safeguarding Jakarta ahead of and during the 2004 general elections.
Already politicians seem to be jockeying for position during the elections, including allegations that some opposition politicians have been financing street rallies.
The bombing on Monday morning inside the National Police Headquarters complex underlined the seriousness of security concerns in the city.
The military said the transfer of Djoko to Jakarta was part of a routine rotation, though Yahya was only in the position for six months.
Yahya is no stranger to difficult postings, having been the Sulawesi Military commander when a communal conflict broke out in Poso, Central Sulawesi, leaving hundreds of people dead and thousands of others displaced.
Yahya also was the Jakarta Military chief of staff when the capital was rocked by antigovernment rallies, which ended with troops firing on protesting students in November 1998 and September 1999.