Army Chief Of Staff Dudung Leads The Commanding Officer Of Kostrad Commander Maj. Gen. Maruli Simanjuntak

Commander of the Regional Military Command (Pangdam) IX/Udayana Major General TNI Maruli Simanjuntak / Antara

JAKARTA - Army Chief of Staff (KSAD) General TNI Dudung Abdurachman is scheduled to lead the inauguration and handover ceremony of the Commander of the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Pangkostrad) Major General Maruli Simanjuntak at TNI AD Headquarters, Jakarta, Monday, January 31. .

"The handover of positions starting from Pangkostrad to other implementing agencies will be held today, Monday, January 31, 2022 on the 3rd floor of the Nasution Building, TNI AD Headquarters," said Head of the Information Service of the Indonesian Army (Kadispenad) Brigadier General Tatang Subarna when contacted by Antara.

On that occasion, Kadispenad ensured that General Dudung — Pangkostrad before Maj. Gen. Maruli — would lead the handover ceremony.

However, the activity is not open for journalists to cover, and documentation activities will be carried out by the Indonesian Army team, said Tatang.

TNI Major General Maruli Simanjuntak was officially appointed as Pangkostrad this month by the TNI Commander General Andika Perkasa, as stipulated in the TNI Commander's Decree Number 66/I/2022 concerning Dismissal from and Appointments to Positions within the TNI.

In the decree, the TNI Commander not only promoted Major General Maruli from the Commander of Kodam IX/Udayana to Pangkostrad, but also transferred, promoted, and respectfully dismissed 328 other high-ranking TNI officers.

The reason is, he has a history of closeness with President Joko Widodo, especially when he was the commander of the TNI Presidential Security Forces from 2018 to 2020, and the deputy commander of the TNI Paspampres in 2017-2018.

However, the TNI Commander after attending a working meeting with Commission I DPR RI last Monday, January 24, explained that the appointment of Major General Maruli as Pangkostrad was the result of a professional assessment.

"The position of the Military Commander is actually one of the aspects of assessing whether during his tenure there was something that then made him worthy (to become Pangkostrad)," the Commander explained to reporters last week.