Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has appointed a fellow former general to head the nation's sensitive intelligence agency, BIN. Retired Lieutenant-General Sjamsir Siregar once served in the military's intelligence wing and some analysts see his appointment as a much-needed bridge between the police and the military.

Presenter/Interviewer: Sen Lam

Speakers: H.S. Dillon, Executive Director of Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia.

Dillon: He is a guy who has been in intelligence, military intelligence for quite some time, so he knows Bambang pretty well, Bambang Yudhoyono. So in that sense he has the ear of the President. We really don't know what he plans to do with the empire more or less that Hendro has left, because Hendro ... has had quite a formidable organisation.

Lam: Indeed Mr Siregar's predecessor, Hendropriyono had argued for tougher powers for Indonesia's intelligence agencies. Might we expect Pak Sjamsir to follow this path?

Dillon: He might have difficulty pushing for that, I think whatever comes in the future; the intelligence will have to be more accountable than it has been in the past.

Lam: There was a time when the Indonesian police was not sharing information with the military and vice versa. Is that rivalry still there and might that pose a challenge to BIN, given that it's also a coordinating agency, that it has to balance the information provided by these other two agencies?

Dillon: Yes I spoke there once (at BIN) and Hendro had asked me to come and address (BIN). They have coordinating powers and the police, the person that I think Bambang will appoint, what he wants to appoint is also another person who I think will cooperate, cooperate more gladly with Sjamsir than carve out the old empire like what they had done. You see, the police had thought at that time, under Mega (former President Megawati) that they had the blessings of the president and the military did not.

Lam: So under the new leadership you expect to see greater cooperation between the police and the Indonesian military?

Dillon: I would think that there would be some coherence there because Admiral Widodo who has taken over the job, the post once held by Bambang. So Bambang understands this. So I feel from the impression I get from talking to them that there definitely will be more coherence.

Lam: So I guess the question is, "Is Siregar likely to be far more hardline than his predecessor Hendropriyono?"

Dillon: No, no, no, no, because Hendro himself was a very strong hardliner when he was in the command, when he was in the infantry. We hope that Sjamsir will prove himself, but more than anything else because while Mega was always playing the police against the army, and I don't think that will happen with Bambang. I think the police will be in the position that they would be happy to work with the military on one side in terms of intelligence, terrorism, work with the prosecutors on the other hand in trying to fight corruption.