Vaudine England, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid moved to consolidate his control of the armed forces yesterday by replacing two allies of recently deposed General Wiranto.

Outspoken reformist Major-General Agus Wirahadikusumah has been rewarded for his loyalty to Mr Wahid with a move up from the South Sulawesi regional command to lead the army's strategic command, Kostrad. He replaces Wiranto ally Djaja Suparman.

Lieutenant-General Djamari Chaniago, a quiet but professional former deputy army chief of staff, has been promoted to the powerful post of chief of general staff to replace Lieutenant-General Suaidi Marasabessy, who was appointed to his job just three months ago. An armed forces spokesman said the appointments were part of a general reshuffle involving 47 senior officers.

The moves were greeted warmly by diplomats and analysts as indicative of Mr Wahid's commitment to banishing the old guard in the armed forces, whose members are under notice that they must quit their political role within five years. "This is certainly a reflection of Wahid's own choices. These are men loyal to him," said a veteran analyst. "I'm not sure if that necessarily directly relates to reform, but we'll see."

General Wirahadikusumah, 49, launched a book last year laying out his vision for reform of the armed forces and has distinguished himself since as a bold exponent of the need for the military to adjust to the rightful dominance of civilian rule, and for General Wiranto to resign.

There had been talk that he could be army chief of staff, but as a major-general his rank is not yet high enough. However, the Kostrad appointment has symbolic resonance – in addition to the command of almost 30,000 elite troops – in that former president Suharto was Kostrad chief when he took power in 1965.

A military reshuffle had been expected since Mr Wahid imposed his will on former armed forces chief General Wiranto and forced him out of cabinet two weeks ago in the wake of a human rights report which named General Wiranto and others as responsible for last year's carnage in East Timor.

But securing a clean-up of the military will take more than the shuffling of those at the top. "I'm not at all convinced that the senior generals have any real idea, any true understanding, of exactly what it means to relinquish power," said the military analyst. "This is just a first step."

Among other recent steps was armed forces chief Admiral Widodo Adisutjipto's comment last week that the armed forces were prepared to relinquish their 38 appointed seats in Parliament by the next elections in 2004.

"The admiral's statement shows that the wish of the many political parties as well as the Government is heard by the army of Indonesia," Mr Wahid said, even though Admiral Widodo also pleaded that his institution should retain a presence in the upper house, the People's Consultative Assembly.

Since 1957, the military has followed a "dual function" philosophy which allows it to participate directly in government while maintaining national security. As a result, the armed forces achieved sweeping dominance down to village level during the Suharto era, and maintain a large web of business links and investments which will take longer to unravel.

"It must be admitted that the armed forces have been guilty of a great many digressions," General Wirahadikusumah said recently. "The military is acting as a parasite, no?" he said. "Who backs and supports the discotheques, brothels and narcotics rings, if not the military or police? Just be honest nowadays ... the military has lost the trust of the people."