Semarang, C Java – President Soeharto said the personnel of the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) would face heavier challenges in their dedication to the nation. The future challenges would not only come from other countries but from their own nation as well, the head of state said in his written address read out by the Diponegoro Regional Military Commander, Maj Gen Soebagyo, at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the regional military command here Saturday.

As a security and defence power, the ABRI personnel should beable to improve their vigilance in the face of future menace,Soeharto said.

"As a socio-political power, ABRI personnel are also expected to place themselves as a stabilizing and dynamic force in the spirit of integrated leadership," said the president who ever occupied the post of commander at the Diponegoro Regional Military Command from1956 to 1959.

The president saw that 47 years of dedication for him was a short period, during which many ABRI members in the command had undergone various heavy ordeals and challenges.

Due to a high spirit of ABRI personnel in defending and safeguarding the security of the nation and state, all kinds of challenges could be successfully overcome. President Soeharto hoped that all personnel of the Diponegoro Regional Military Command could contemplate the essence of the command's historic dedication to the nation and state.