Retired Army generals get honorary promotions

Retired Army generals get honorary promotions

JAKARTA (JP): Three retired Army major generals, Sintong
Pandjaitan, Zaini Azhar Maulani and Kentot Harseno, were promoted
to lieutenant general yesterday in an unusual though not
unprecedented move.

Sintong, Maulani and Harseno will carry the title Honorary
Lieutenant General. They join the late Lt. Gen. (ret) Soesilo
Soedarman, coordinating minister for politics and security in the
last cabinet, and former coordinating minister for people's
welfare Maj. Gen. (ret) Azwar Anas, who in 1993 were promoted to
full general and lieutenant general respectively.

Traditionally, honorary ranks within the Indonesian Armed
Forces (ABRI) are given to outstanding officers prior to their
retirement.

The three honorary lieutenant generals are indeed unique in
their own way. Sintong Pandjaitan, a 1963 graduate of the
National Military Academy (AMN), is remembered for his
outstanding achievement in 1965. Then, as a lieutenant in the
red-beret elite force, he retook the RRI radio station in Jakarta
which had fallen into the hands of communist rebels during their
abortive coup.

His second big break came in March 1981, when he led an
antiterror operation to free a hijacked Indonesian airliner in
Bangkok. The hijacking ended with four of the five hijackers
killed, but Sintong lost one officer. Achmad Kirang was shot in
the stomach when trying to enter the aircraft through a rear
door.

Sintong, then a lieutenant colonel, was assistant for
operations in the Covert Warfare Forces Command (Kopassandha),
which has since changed its name to the Army special force
(Kopassus). He belonged to Detachment 81, a unit in Kopassandha,
which specialized in antiterror operations.

After Bangkok, his star continued to wax and in 1985 he was
appointed special forces commander. His career in the military
culminated when he was appointed commander of the Udayana
Regional Military that oversees Bali, East Timor and Nusa
Tenggara.

However, it was also his last assignment that brought an end
to his promising military career. On Nov. 12, 1991, Indonesian
troops fired on a crowd of 3,500 mourners in a cemetery in Dili,
the capital of East Timor, leaving 50 dead and wounding many
more.

Sintong was removed from his post, together with R.S. Warrouw,
chief of the military operational command in East Timor, and
several other officers.

After spending a year studying in the U.S. in a cooling-off
period, Sintong returned home and joined the Agency for the
Assessment and Application of Technology (BBPT) as an assistant
to then state minister of research and technology B.J. Habibie.

Sintong was also appointed head of BPPT's Department for the
Development of ABRI's Weapons and Facility Technology.

"I really enjoy working at BPPT, although the atmosphere here
is completely removed from life in the military. Here at BPPT, we
are very open to discussions, because accuracy is our main
concern and priority. At the military, speed comes before
anything else," Sintong, who retired in 1996, said yesterday.

Maulani, a 1962 AMN graduate, is one of three Dayaks who have
made it to ABRI's top ranks.

A former chief of the Tangjungpura Regional Military Command,
Maulani retired in 1991 and is now advisor to the chairman of
BPPT and head of the Defense and Security Department at the
Strategic Industries Management Agency (BPIS).

Maulani is also recognized as a keen writer and his work
regularly appear in various publications across the country.

Harseno, a former chief of the Jakarta Military Command, is a
1961 AMN graduate. He became popular for his campaign to improve
discipline among Jakartans which included sending troops to clean
the city's walls of graffiti.

He was also very successful in safeguarding the 1992 general
election and the 10th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in the
same year.

In both events, practically none of Harseno's troops were seen
on the streets, a stark contrast to last year's general election
and last month's General Assembly of the People's Consultative
Assembly.

Also yesterday, 29 high-and middle-ranking Army officers
received their promotions. Among these were Amir Sembiring,
Ryamizard RC, Sugiarto Maksum, Lisno, H. Suharna Ruchiat and
Soeryanto Suryokusumo, who were promoted to major general and
will occupy new posts. (lem)