Sembiring becomes Trikora military chief

Sembiring becomes Trikora military chief

JAKARTA (JP): Maj. Gen. Amir Sembiring was installed Monday as
the new chief of the Trikora Regional Military Command which
oversees Maluku and Irian Jaya.

Sembiring, a familiar face to the command, is a 1972 graduate
of the Armed Forces Academy. He replaced his senior, Maj. Gen.
Johny Lumintang, in a ceremony presided over by Army Chief of
Staff Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo in the Irian Jaya capital of
Jayapura, Antara reported.

Formerly director of the documentation center at the Army's
Training Center in Bandung, West Java, Sembiring spent a couple
of years in Indonesia's easternmost province.

He was chief of the Jayapura District Military Command and
chief of the Manokwari Regency Military Command before he was
given the administrative assignment at the Army's training
center.

Johny, a 1970 graduate of the Armed Forces Academy, will soon
be posted as new assistant to the Armed Forces chief of general
affairs. He will fill in the post left vacant by Lt. Gen. Fachrul
Razi, who was promoted to Armed Forces chief of general affairs
last month.

Irian Jaya, considered among the least developed provinces of
Indonesia, has witnessed many secessionist attempts by a group
calling itself the Free Papua Movement. Authorities describe the
rebels as "peace disturbing groups" given that many times the
movement has resorted to violence, including abducting people.

In his address, Army Chief Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo told the
troops posted in the province that the rebels were not enemies.
They were instead, "our brethren who have been, because of their
limitations, influenced by separatist ideas which are against the
state ideology Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution".

"The problem of peace disturbing movements should be handled
thoroughly and with the involvement of all parties, security
personnel and the local community," Subagyo was quoted by Antara
as saying. (imn/swe)