Defence minister for Indonesia named

INDONESIA’S new defence minister has been named after the incumbent, Prabowo Subianto was sworn in as the eighth president of the republic, also Southeast Asia’s largest economy. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin was named defence minister as the incoming president announced his lineup of 109 cabinet members.

Like Prabowo, Sjafrie is a former Indonesian Army Lieutenant General who served from 1974 to 2010 in the service’s special operations command, KOPASSUS. The pair have been friends since their early days in the Tidar Valley Military Academy. Sjafrie is notable for his role in military operations across East TImor, Acheh, and Papua. He has also been barred from entering the United States over allegations of human rights abuses, though no charges have been filed.

He had also previously served as Special Assistant to the Minister of Defence for Defence Management since December 2019 under Prabowo. Prior to that, he held the position of deputy defence minister in the sixth presidency and commander of the Presidential Security Force (PASPAMPRES) during the second presidency.-shp/adj/dl (Pix:INDONESIA MINDEF)