Jakarta – The latest reshuffle within the Indonesian Military (TNI) has dragged on following the appointment of Vice Adm. Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno as the new Navy chief.
The reshuffle, signed by TNI chief Gen. Djoko Santoso on June 30, affected 29 jobs, including the TNI chief of general affairs and three military command chief posts.
Deputy Navy chief Rear Adm. Yosaphat Heru Didik Purnomo will take over from Tedjo as the new TNI chief of general affairs, allowing the Navy to keep the strategic position intact.
Operational assistant to the Navy chief Rear Adm. Moekhlas Sidik will succeed Heru as the Navy's second in command.
The shake-up also saw the replacement of three regional military commanders less than seven months after their appointments.
Jakarta Military commander Maj. Gen. Johanes Surjo Prabowo was promoted to the position of deputy Army chief, replacing Lt. Gen. Cornel Simbolon, who is retiring. Surjo, a 1976 graduate of the Military Academy, will be replaced by his senior, Diponegoro Military commander overseeing Central Java Maj. Gen. Darpito Pudyastungkoro.
Cenderawasih Military commander overseeing Papua Maj. Gen. Haryadi Soetanto will take over from Darpito, with Maj. Gen. Azmyn Yusri Nasution, the commander of the 2nd Division of the Army's Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad), appointed Haryadi's successor.
TNI spokesman Col. Ahmad Yani Basuki said Wednesday the reshuffle was "an organizational need" as many officers were reaching retirement age.
"Nothing is peculiar or out of the blue. Everything has gone through the standard procedures," he said, dismissing speculation about a link between the reshuffle and the upcoming elections.
The TNI has conducted four major reshuffles since last December, across all three armed forces and at TNI headquarters.
In the series of TNI shake-ups, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's brother-in-law Brig. Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo became the youngest officer to be promoted to a major general rank. Pramono, a 1980 graduate of the Military Academy, took office as chief of the Army Special Forces (Kopassus) on Tuesday.
Yani said the frequent reshuffles represented the dynamism of the TNI in responding to the challenges it was facing.