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Analysis: Army, Navy chiefs battle it out for TNI top job
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Newly appointed Army Chief of Staff (KSAD) TNI General Andika Perkasa poses during inauguration at Merdeka Palace Jakarta, Thursday, November 22, 2018 . Andika will replace TNI General Mulyono that will be retiring in 2019. (TJPImages/Seto Wardhana)
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s the current Indonesian Military (TNI) chief, Gen. Andika Perkasa, will reach his retirement age on Dec. 21, the public is anticipating who will be President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s choice of Andika’s replacement.
Although Jokowi himself has signaled an imminent change of guard in the TNI, House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Sufmi Dasco said the House leaders have yet to receive the President’s letter on the matter. Jokowi has also kept his preference a secret, but in compliance with the 2004 TNI Law, the President’s choices are limited to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Dudung Abdurachman, Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Yudo Margono and Air Force Chief of Staff Marshall Fadjar Prasetyo.
However, of all the three military chiefs of staff, Yudo has been making waves in public discourse as the most-possible option for Jokowi’s third TNI commander considering the fact that the President has yet to give the Navy an opportunity to take charge. Yudo was also a close second in 2021 as then-TNI commander Air Chief Marshall Hadi Tjahjanto’s replacement when pressures mounted on Jokowi to give Yudo a shot in order to maintain the tradition of rotating the leadership of TNI among its three services, ensuring a sense of equality among its rank and file. The President eventually went to give the Army a second chance by choosing Andika.
This year, Yudo is going up against the Army once more amid speculations the President is being tempted to hand the TNI top job to Dudung for political reasons ahead of the 2024 elections. Like Andika, Dudung comes from an elite background. His father-in-law was the late Maj. Gen. (ret.) Cholid Ghozali who was on the supervisory board of Baitul Muslimin Indonesia, the Indonesian Party of Struggle’s (PDI-P) umbrella organization to reach Muslim voters.
While he was a Military Academy governor in 2020, Dudung also caught the attention of PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri after building a statue of founding president Sukarno in the academy.
Dudung gained prominence for cracking down the now-defunct hardline Islam Defenders Front (FPI) during his time as the Jakarta Military commander in late 2020. However, due to his controversy in recent months after a video of him seen as ordering Army soldiers to cyberbully PDI-P lawmaker Effendi Simbolon in response to his criticism against the military, civil-society groups have demanded the President to appoint Yudo as the next TNI chief.
Many have said that Jokowi’s promise to turn Indonesia into a global maritime axis should be enough reason to pick Yudo. Not to mention, Indonesia has many challenges and threats in its waters since the Ukraine-Russia war as well as simmering regional tension due to competition of global powers in South China Sea and Indo-Pacific area. All the geopolitical phenomena should justify the country’s need to strengthen its naval power and let the Navy take charge.
