Situbondo army chief replaced

Situbondo army chief replaced

SURABAYA (JP): Situbondo, the site of Oct. 10 religious
violence where five people were left dead and dozens of churches
damaged, has a new military chief.

Lt. Col. Imam Prawoto, chief of the military district of
Situbondo, some 160 kilometers east of here, was hastily replaced
yesterday by Lt. Col. Iswandi.

Only the previous day, Imam, still working, had invited about
80 local ulemas to a meeting where he explained the cause of the
death of Akhmad Siddiq, one of the 54 people detained for
involvement in the riots.

In Surabaya, commander of the Brawijaya regional military
command Maj. Gen. Imam Utomo held a press conference on the
transfer. He said he had been observing Imam Prawoto since the
riots and had found reasons for justifying the latter's removal
from the job.

"Over the past two months, I saw him getting more and more
stressed out. He could only think of the 54 suspects and nothing
else," Imam Utomo said.

"Every day, people asked him about the riot. That's why he
became stressed out.

"If this situation went on, the task of safeguarding the
general elections next year wouldn't proceed smoothly."

Imam Utomo, however, refused to say his subordinate was
replaced as a direct consequence of the riot.

"It's not because he was considered to have failed to restore
the situation in Situbondo," he said.

"The Armed Forces needs to also develop a community's social
and political affairs. If a military leader is preoccupied with
suspected rioters, then his job of developing the community will
be hampered," he said.

He said the decision "was made in Jakarta".

Imam Prawoto will be posted at Army headquarters.

Imam Utomo said the Armed Forces would help repair four
churches and three school buildings damaged in the violence.
(25/swe)