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)