Drifting Dangerously
President Abdurrahman Wahid has found it tough to replace either the TNI commander or the army chief of staff. Ousted reformist general Agus Wirahadikusumah is in the hot seat again and there are new whispers of a coup.
October 9, 2000
IT was already late in the evening but the generals’ handphones would not stop ringing. It was October 5, the TNI’s 55th birthday, and the word was out that new changes were afoot at the peak of the military’s top brass. Such changes have become fairly routine, but this time there was a certain tension in the air. The generals were anxiously waiting for the latest news from the palace.
What would President Abdurrahman Wahid do?
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