Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) Commander Adm. Widodo approved a large-scale reshuffling of the military this week, shifting 74 officers and several top positions. In the most noteworthy transfer, he appointed an outspoken reformer, Lt. Gen. Agus Wirahadikusumah, as the head of the elite Army Strategic Reserve Command, known as Kostrad.

Agus' appointment to the high-profile Kostrad will gauge the degree of remaining resistance within the army to President Abdurrahman Wahid's efforts at reducing the army's traditional grip on Jakarta's political agenda. The army's acceptance of Agus is tantamount to accepting Wahid's program of reform. If Agus fails, the army will be signaling its refusal to accept the supremacy of the civilian government.

Agus represents the most extreme reformist element within the armed forces. He is one of the few officers to have relentlessly and loudly supported Wahid's effort to take the army out of politics.

Despite the president's agenda, many TNI officers still consider political influence to be part and parcel of their sworn oath to guarantee Indonesian unity.

Last year, Agus led a group of generals in a campaign to abolish the army's political role. Shortly after, he was whisked out of his position in Jakarta to a far-off command post in Sulawesi, an island to the northeast of Jakarta. Only weeks ago, Agus drew the ire of Gen. Wiranto and other top generals by calling for Wiranto's resignation for his alleged role in the September violence in East Timor.

Now Agus has returned to Jakarta to head Kostrad. The potential for conflict appears enormous. Traditionalists in the TNI may be reluctant to hand over leadership of the army's most elite force to a young upstart who appears hell-bent on undercutting the power and influence of the military.

His appointment has already created a ripple of discontent. Gen. Wiranto, once Kostrad's chief himself, called Agus a "bad bird," and indirectly questioned whether he was capable of carrying out his office. Even Wahid, who admittedly requested Agus' promotion to a position in Jakarta, seemed hesitant to support his appointment to Kostrad. "I don't know his other abilities, apart from being a thinker," he said. "Whether or not he can lead Kostrad, that's not my business."

Wahid's apparent need to distance himself from the appointment, combined with Wiranto's clear disdain, suggests the inevitable: Bumps remain on the road to the army's removal from politics. Wahid is either concerned that the military may not support the move, or is under Wiranto's influence. But Agus himself will be the true test case. If he is removed from his position, it will be a clear sign of the military's unwillingness to accept its rapidly diminishing its political role.