Indonesia's president has picked an army general who supported his recent rise to power to head the country's intelligence agency – a key post in the fight against terror in the world's most populous Muslim nation. Retired Lieutenant General Sjamsir Siregar, who once served in the military's intelligence wing, will be inaugurated on Wednesday, Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi told reporters.

Siregar was chosen over As'at Said, who has headed the agency since A M Hendropriyono resigned from the post in October. Some analysts have suggested that As'at, a longtime civilian intelligence officer who is fluent in Arabic, was more qualified for the job.

Siregar was a senior member of the campaign team that saw President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono win a landslide victory in elections in September. Yudhoyono, himself a retired general, has rewarded several military officers who supported him with influential Cabinet posts.

The State Intelligence Agency plays a vital role in the fight against the al-Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group, which has been blamed for three bloody bombings in Indonesia in the last two years. It provided information in joint probes with foreign agencies that led to the arrest of several high-level terror suspects in recent years, analysts say.