Udayana Regional Mily Command Gets New Chief

Denpasar (Antara Bali) - Army Chief of Staff Gen George Toisutta on Friday installed  Brig Gen Rachmat Budiyanto as new chief of the Udayana regional military command replacing Maj Gen Hotmangaradja Pandjaitan.

Budiyanto was previously chief of staff at the Siliwangi regional military command which oversees West Java province.

Pandjaitan will later take up a new post as the secretary of the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs.

In his address Gen Toisutta said the Udayana regional military command assumed increasingly formidable tasks as its jurisdiction covered the provinces of Bali, West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara which made up a chain of islands.

The geographical condition could be regarded as national wealth which made the region one of the world's main tourist destinations, he said.

"Yet experience shows that the region is also susceptible to many  violations, ranging from legal violation, drug trafficking to terrorism of international scale," he said.

He said the Udayana regional military command also must be at the forefront of the battle to defend the country's sovereignty particularly in East Nusa Tenggara bordering East Timor.

"One of the ways (to achieve the goal) is intensifying defense in the land territory bordering the neighboring country," he said.(*/T007)