Without even the slightest opposition, the House of Representatives approved on Wednesday the nomination of Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto as the next Indonesian Military (TNI) commander, replacing Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo who will step down three months prior to his retirement.

House Commission I, which oversees defense, intelligence and foreign affairs, moved to accept President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s nomination of Hadi after an hours-long closed-door screening. The decision was met with applause by Gatot and a number of military officers who attended the confirmation hearing.

“Commission I has accepted Hadi as the next TNI chief. We consider Hadi as having a good track record and being fully capable of leading the military. He has also fulfilled all the requirements to become the TNI commander,” Commission I chairman Abdul Kharis Almasyhari said.

The House also approved Jokowi’s proposal to honorably discharge Gatot.

“We appreciate the dedication and professionalism Gatot brought to his role as TNI chief,” Abdul said.

The House will read out the approval during a plenary meeting slated for Thursday while Hadi’s inauguration is expected to take place on Friday.

The 53-year-old Hadi, who was sworn in as Air Force chief of staff almost a year ago, will head the TNI until his retirement in 2020.

During his presentation before the legislators, Hadi pledged to modernize TNI’s weaponry to help boost the force’s professionalism.

“The TNI needs a transformation to become a more modern and professional defense institution, equipped with a modern defense system, so we can perform our duties, as mandated under the Constitution, properly,” Hadi said.

Hadi’s track record is not without a stain. Back in 2015, while serving as the commander of the Abdurrahman Saleh Air Base in Malang, East Java, Hadi lost a Hercules aircraft from his squadron after it crashed into a residential area in Medan, North Sumatra, killing 120 people.

The Air Force has also been plagued in the past five years by hardware malfunctions, corruption and discipline issues. The latest involved the smuggling of some 75 bottles of vodka in one of the force’s cargo aircraft for delivery to Papua.

However, no lawmakers brought up the issues with Hadi during the confirmation hearing.

Hadi, who became close to Jokowi while the later was serving as the mayor of Surakarta in Central Java, emphasized during the hearing his concerns about the threat posed by terrorism and radicalism, which has spread through social media, and insisted that a policy be implemented to quash the danger.

“The spread of hoaxes via social media is worrying as it could lead to instability and the outbreak of conflicts,” Hadi said.

Commission I deputy chairman Asril Hamzah Tanjung of the Gerindra Party said Hadi had pledged that he would maintain the TNI’s neutrality, particularly as several high-level military officers had decided to retire early so as to run in the country’s simultaneous regional elections next year.

Asril also highlighted the 2019 simultaneous legislative and presidential elections during which Hadi was also expected to maintain neutrality.

The House also used the occasion to criticize Gatot’s decision to rotate the positions of 85 high-ranking officers on Monday, a move that raised suspicions he was seeking to put “his people” in strategic command positions before Hadi took charge.

“There should be no rotations before an evaluation by Hadi,” Asril said.

Among the notable rotations was the promotion of Sriwijaya Military Commander Maj. Gen. Sudirman to the commander of the Army’s Strategic Reserve Forces (Pangkostrad), capable of mobilizing a strike force consisting of more than 40,000 personnel.

Gatot argued that the rotations were issued shortly after the nomination because he had not been informed by the President of his early retirement.

“The President had not informed me of Hadi’s nomination, while the rotation plan was already in motion and had been decided on by the board of promotion days earlier,” Gatot said.

Al-Araf from the think-tank Imparsial, said ethically it was not proper for a TNI commander to initiate strategic policies during a transition period.

Gatot, he said, should instead prepare for the transition of TNI leadership to Hadi and ensure that the latter could continue the reform process toward becoming a more professional and modern military.

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