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)