New home affairs officials appointed

JAKARTA (JP): A familiar face and an active military lecturer were installed as the new secretary-general and director general of the Ministry of Home Affairs Monday.

Faisal Tamin, former director general for regional development, was inducted as secretary-general. He replaces Lt. Gen. (ret) Suryatna Soebrata, who has reached the mandatory retirement age.

Maj. Gen. Dunidja is the ministry's new director general for sociopolitical affairs. He replaces Maj. Gen. Achdary, who will soon assume a new post at the Armed Forces (ABRI) headquarters.

The ceremony was held at the home affairs ministry's office with minister R. Hartono presiding.

Faisal, who will turn 57 this year, was born in Dompu, Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara. Upon graduating from the National University in Jakarta in 1967, he received a middle-level staff position at the home affairs ministry.

He was appointed the ministry's spokesman in 1975. He remained at the post until 1978. He joined a course at the military think- tank, the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas), in 1985.

Faisal became an expert staff member to the minister of home affairs in 1987 before he was appointed director general for regional development in 1994.

Dunidja, 53, is a 1967 graduate of the Armed Forces Academy. He hails from Cirebon, West Java.

He spent most of his military career at several units across the country and was involved in military operations against separatist movements in the provinces of Aceh, East Timor and Irian Jaya.

He was appointed a brigade chief of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) in 1987 and became the assistant for operational affairs to the deputy chief of the Brawijaya Regional Military Command, overseeing East Java province, in 1989.

He was chief of the Jakarta Infantry Regiment in 1991 and was assigned chief of the Trikora Regional Military Command, overseeing the provinces of Maluku and Irian Jaya, in 1995. He has spent the last two years as a lecturer at Lemhanas. (imn)