No press coverage for Sjafrie

JAKARTA: Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin will officially take over from Rear Air Marshal Graito Usodo as the Indonesian Military (TNI) spokesman in a rare closed-door ceremony on Monday.

Unlike in the past, no invitations have been sent to the press to cover the ceremony, which will take place at TNI Headquarters in the East Jakarta suburb of Cilangkap.

A staffer in the TNI information office told reporters on Saturday that the ceremony was classified as "strictly closed to the public."

Criticism has rained down on the TNI for appointing Sjafrie as its new spokesman despite his alleged role in past human rights violations in the country, including the Trisakti University incident and the ensuing mass rioting in Jakarta in 1998, and the East Timor violence in 1999. --JP