Pramono, army chief strongest candidates; expert

A military expert said this date Army Reserve Command chief Lt. Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo was the strongest candidate for the next army chief of staff, replacing Gen. George Toisutta, who has entered his pension preparation session.

“Pramono holds the most comprehensive experience from among the other candidates. He was former army special forces chief before he was named as the army reserves command chief,” , University of Indonesia military expert Andi Widjajanto said Tuesday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

When he was asked about allegations of nepotism given the fact that Pramono is President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s brother in law, Andi said he hadn’t seen any indications that it could be a problem.

“Apart from the fact that Pramono is still the President’s relative, he is a professional military officer with rich experience. People should be able to differentiate that aspect,” he said.

At least three army lieutenant generals were considered to have met the requirements to be the army’s top leader. In addition to Pramono, the two other candidates were deputy army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Budiman and army educational and training command chief Lt. Gen. Marciano Norman.