TNI announces major reshuffle to 'promote regeneration'

TNI announces major reshuffle to 'promote regeneration'

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Military (TNI) is scheduled to carry out
immediately a major reshuffle of 120 strategic positions,
including three deputies to the chiefs of staff of the Army, Navy
and Air Force.

Declining to go into detail, TNI Commander Gen. Endriartono
Sutarto confirmed on Tuesday that he had approved the proposed
reshuffle on Monday, which, he said, was aimed at rejuvenating
the Military.

"The reshuffle has nothing to do with the political or
security situation. There's nothing special about it,"
Endriartono said during a break in a hearing with House of
Representatives Commission I on political, security and foreign
affairs here on Tuesday.

Current chief of the military education and training command
Maj. Gen. Darsono was appointed deputy chief of the Army to
replace Lt. Gen. Soemarsono. Current chief of the Navy's Eastern
Fleet Rear Admiral I.W.R. Argawa was appointed deputy chief of
the Navy to replace Vice Adm. Syahroni Kasnadi. Current assistant
to the Air Force chief for operational affairs Rear Marshall
Wardoyo was appointed deputy chief of the Air Force to replace
Vice Marshall Ali Munsiri Rappe.

The outgoing deputies to the three chiefs of staff have
reached their mandatory retirement age of 55.

In addition, reshuffles were also announced for five strategic
positions in the Army and two others in the Navy.

The Army leadership has decided to replace five officials in
five military commands. Brig. Gen. Nurdin Zaenal was appointed
chief of the Trikora Military Command overseeing security in
Papua, to replace Maj. Gen. Mahidin Simbolon. Mahidin will be
assigned as official without portfolio at the Army Headquarters
in Jakarta.

Maj. Gen. Djoko Santoso, current chief of the Pattimura
Military Command overseeing Maluku and North Maluku, was
appointed chief of Jakarta Military Command to replace Maj. Gen.
Ali Yahya, appointed inspector general at Army Headquarters. Maj.
Gen. Agus Tadi, current chief of the Army's Strategic Reserve
Command's Division II, will replace Djoko in Ambon, capital of
Maluku.

Maj. Gen. Amirul Isnaeni was appointed chief of the Diponegoro
Military Command overseeing Central Java, to replace Maj. Gen.
Cornelius Simbolon. Amirul was chief of the Wirabuana Military
Command overseeing security in Sulawesi.

Brig. Gen. Suprapto, current chief of staff at the Diponegoro
Military Command, was appointed chief of Wirabuana Military
command, to replace Amirul.

Asked about possible political motives behind the reshuffle,
Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Ratyono insisted that the reshuffle was
routine, being related to tours of duty, and was aimed at
rejuvenating the Army organization.

The murder of proindependence Papua figure Dortheys "Theys"
Hiyo Eluway on Nov. 11, 2001, and the bloody attack on the mine
at Timika on Aug. 31, 2002, have been seen as two serious blows
to the Army as the Military was allegedly involved in both cases.

So far, personnel from the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus)
are facing charges at a military court martial for their alleged
involvement in the Theys case. A team from the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI), accompanied by the Military and police in
Papua, is carrying out an inquiry into the Timika incident. Two
American citizens and an Indonesian were killed in the incident.

Reliable sources at the TNI Headquarters said that Rear
Admiral Slamet Subiyanto, an assistant for TNI general affairs,
was appointed chief of the Navy's Eastern Fleet to replace
Argawa. Rear Admiral Mualimin Santoso was appointed chief of the
Navy's Western Fleet to replace Rear Adm. Djoko Sumaryono.