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Wahid loyalist relieved of key command

Source
South China Morning Post - August 1, 2000

Chris McCall, Jakarta – The military yesterday booted its most outspoken reformist general out of the command of the elite Kostrad strategic reserve, a post he had occupied for just four months.

In a ceremony today, Lieutenant-General Agus Wirahadikusumah will hand over command and take up an undefined post as a senior officer – a "walk the halls post", as one diplomat put it – at military headquarters.

General Agus is the second reformist to be moved in a matter of weeks. He is the most senior of eight officers, among them six generals, changing posts in the third military reshuffle since President Abdurrahman Wahid was elected last October.

General Agus was replaced by Major-General Ryamizard Ryacudu, formerly head of the Jakarta regional military command. General Ryamizard's replacement is Major-General Slamet Kirbiantoro, who followed General Agus as head of the Sulawesi-based Wirabuana military command.

As Kostrad chief, General Agus ruffled feathers by exposing a corruption scandal at a Kostrad benevolent fund. It led to suggestions he had been pushed aside by someone influential with a lot to fear.

General Agus was stoical about his transfer. He said he understood both Mr Wahid and Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri had been consulted. "I cannot say whether it is justified or not justified," he said. "In any organisation, including the military, changes of task are normal."

He said he had not been able to change much in his four months, but he called for the reform process in the military to press ahead and for it to return to its original role of a people's army, forged during Indonesia's independence war against the Dutch in the 1940s.

Speaking of a "crisis of credibility" at home and abroad for the Indonesian military, he called for a new style of management, in particular public accountability and a sharper focus on rights rather than on factional interests.

General Agus said he felt his ideas had made a positive contribution. "In reality we can see they are adopted by the TNI [Indonesian armed forces]," he said. "You can see several kinds of improvement. This is what I struggled for and I got a positive response from the people."

General Agus shot to prominence in February during a public row between Mr Wahid and former military chief General Wiranto. General Agus publicly backed Mr Wahid's call for General Wiranto to step down from the cabinet over last year's East Timor violence, which occurred while General Wiranto was still military chief. In doing so he was regarded by other senior officers as breaking military protocol, since General Wiranto outranked him.

His transfer has sent shivers running through the diplomatic community, which fears derailment of the reform process. "If the President is really serious about reforming the military, this is the guy who is spearheading those efforts," one diplomat said.

Mr Wahid personally backed the promotion of General Agus after winning his verbal battle to remove General Wiranto from his cabinet, but has since run into his own political problems.

Not all analysts see the transfer of General Agus as a defeat for reform. Political commentator Wimar Witoelar said those running the military remained committed to reform, but just not as fast as General Agus would have liked.

One thing General Agus did manage to do in his brief period in charge of Kostrad, the crack unit whose image has been tarnished down the years by a series of accusations of human rights abuses, was to expose a corruption scandal at Yayasan Dharma Putra, a soldiers' benevolent fund.

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