No press coverage for Sjafrie

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