New military chiefs of staff announced

New military chiefs of staff announced

JAKARTA (JP): The Chief of the Armed Forces (ABRI) Gen. Feisal
Tanjung yesterday announced the names of the new National Police
chief, and the chiefs of staff of the Navy and the Air Force.

Hartono, the current Army chief of staff is to keep his job.

The appointments of the four chiefs are the prerogative of
President Soeharto and are regarded as political appointments.
The latest appointments were contained in a series of
Presidential decrees dated March 8.

In the reshuffle of ABRI's top leadership, Rear Admiral Arief
Kushariadi has been appointed as the Navy chief of staff
replacing Admiral Tanto Koeswanto, Rear Marshall Sutria Tubagus
as Air Force chief of staff in place of Marshall Rilo Pambudi and
Maj. Gen. Dibyo Widodo as the National Police chief in place of
Gen. Banurusman.

Tanto, Rilo and Banurusman, who have held their positions
since 1993, are all approaching 55, the mandatory retirement age
in the military.

Army chief of staff Hartono, who was only promoted last year,
will also turn 55 soon and it is not known whether or not
Soeharto will keep him afterwards. Feisal yesterday declined to
answer reporters' questions on Hartono's future.

The three new chiefs will be sworn in at the State Palace this
Friday and are all due for promotion to three-star generals.

The ceremony for their transfers of duty will all be held on
Monday in Surabaya for the Navy chief of staff, Yogyakarta for
the Air Force chief of staff and in Semarang for the National
Police chief. Gen. Feisal will preside at all three ceremonies,
traveling to the different cities in one day.

ABRI Chief of General Affairs Lt. Gen. Suyono did not rule out
further changes in the coming months, including the possibility
of a new chief of the Jakarta Military Command, a position
currently held by Maj. Gen. Wiranto.

Arief Kushariadi, 52, is a 1967 graduate of the Naval Academy.

He spent his early career in the Navy on warships, including
KRI Angin Gending, KRI Yos Sudarso and KRI RE Martadinata. Later
he was entrusted to take command of the destroyers KRI Ngurah Rai
and KRI Yos Sudarso. His career then took off, first as chief of
the Navy's Western Fleet in 1993 and then as deputy chief of Navy
operational affairs last month.

Sutrio Tubagus, 52, is a 1967 graduate of the Air Force
Academy. He spent his early career in the force as a pilot,
stationed in Squadron 2 and Squadron 31 at Halim Perdanakusumah
air base. His command positions include chief of the Halim
Perdanakusumah air base, chief of Air Force education center in
1994 and deputy chief of Air Force on personnel.

Dibyo Widodo, 50, graduated from the Police Academy in 1968,
and spent his early years in the force in North Sumatra. He was
President Soeharto's adjutant from 1986 to 1992 and later moved
to deputy chief of the Nusa Tenggara police from 1992. He
returned to Jakarta last year to head the city's police force.
(rms)