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Military reformer loses post in backlash

Source
Sydney Morning Herald - August 1, 2000

Hamish McDonald, Jakarta – The sudden transfer of a leading reformist general out of the Indonesian Army's most important combat command threatens a new chill in Jakarta's relations with Western governments, and puts off any immediate prospect of a resumption in military aid.

Worried foreign officials in Jakarta see the general's removal as part of a backlash by military conservatives wedded to the central political role awarded the armed forces (TNI) under former president Soeharto.

They are even more worried by the fact that this crackdown on openness and reform was done with the support of Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri, whose nationalist PDI Perjuangan party is the biggest element in the coalition backing President Abdurrahman Wahid.

The reformer, Lieutenant-General Agus Wirahadikusumah, will be replaced tomorrow as head of the army's Strategic Reserve (Kostrad) and assigned without specific job responsibility to the army headquarters, effectively ousting him from influence on armed forces policy.

The new Kostrad commander will be Major-General Ryamizard Ryacudu, leader of the Jakarta garrison. General Ryamizard is regarded as a conventional soldier with connections to the Soeharto-era leadership through his father-in-law, a former armed forces commander and vice-president, Mr Try Sutrisno.

General Agus has been an outspoken advocate of the military's withdrawal from its "Dwi-fungsi" (Dual Function) role in politics, which saw it create "territorial" command down to village level under Soeharto, a tight hold that involved enormous repression and corruption.

He was openly derisive of the former armed forces commander and defence minister, General Wiranto, when General Wiranto refused to resign after being named in February by a government inquiry as partly responsible for last year's violence in East Timor.

His pressure helped Mr Wahid gain General Wiranto's agreement to step down, and General Agus was soon after appointed to the Kostrad command.

General Agus's latest sin was to expose the withdrawal of 190 billion rupiah ($38 million) from two of Kostrad's business ventures by his predecessor, Lieutenant-General Djaja Suparman.

When General Suparman was unable to account for the funds drawn in large tranches over December and January from Mandala Airlines and the Dharma Putra Foundation – enterprises supposed to top up the pitiful official salaries of officers and men – and returned some in a cheque from his personal account, General Agus went public, called in defence auditors, and suspended two of Kostrad's financial officers.

Reports in Jakarta say his move sent tremors through the officer corps, and enraged General Wiranto, still influential and close to General Suparman. A group of conservative generals met at General Wiranto's house last Wednesday, according to Tempo magazine, and then approached Ms Megawati, who joined then in pressing Mr Wahid for the transfer of General Agus.

Military sources said the argument used to win over Mr Wahid was that taking pressure off the demoralised TNI on this key financial front would lead to more zeal in stopping inter-religious violence in the Moluccan islands.

Analysts said the move against General Agus would be taken very badly by the United States, and would effectively squelch debate about resuming training, equipment transfers and other support for the TNI, all of which was predicated on continuing reform.

"The Americans placed great store and hope in his progress, to increase the rate of TNI reform," one defence analyst said. "Generally he is seen as the vanguard of the reform movement."

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