GENERAL Djoko Santoso made a confession to his former classmates: that he used to go AWOL during his first year of military training and that he was almost discharged for what he did. Djoko told it all during an alumni reunion of the Indonesian Military Academy, Class of 1975, in Magelang, Central Java, late last year.

Djoko, now Army Chief of Staff, said he was not alone. Three other former cadets, Koesmayadi, Djaelani Sakur and Sjafriel Marasin,