TNI replaces six legislators

Former Udayana military chief Maj. Gen. Williem T. Da Costa and five other senior military officers were sworn in as new legislators to replace six others who have reached mandatory retirement age.

House Speaker Akbar Tandjung, who presided over the swearing- in ceremony, welcomed the five new legislators from the Indonesian Military/National Police faction, saying they were in the legislature to channel the people's aspirations for the remaining one year of the present House's term.

He called on the new legislators to help improve the House's performance as regards its legislative functions, saying the House still had a large backlog of bills to get through.

Besides Da Costa, the five other new faction members were named as Maj. Gen. Rudjiono, Maj. Gen. Sang Nyoman Suwisma, Rear Admiral Jimmy Masykur, Rear Admiral Sugeng Waluyo Ronoharjo and Rear Marshal IG Bambang Risharyanto.

The legislators they are replacing are Lt. Gen. Slamet Supriyadi, Maj. Gen. Arifuddin AM, Maj. Gen. Syamsul Ma'arif, Rear Admiral J. Ferdinand Manengkei, Maj. Gen. Prayitno and Rear Marshal Pieter L.D. Watimena.

The mandatory retirement age in the military is 55.

The Indonesian Military (TNI) leadership also appointed Posma L. Tobing as the chairman of the Military/National Police faction in the House and as the deputy speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), two strategic positions left vacant by the departure of Slamet Supriyadi.

The military and police have 38 non-elected seats in the legislature but are due to loss their seats in the House in September 2004, and in the Assembly in 2009.

The military's exit from the legislature is part of a stumbling process of national reform to develop democracy that has been underway since the fall of former president Soeharto's authoritarian regime in May, 1998.