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)