Hadi Tjahjanto, the new commander of the Indonesian military, reversed his predecessor’s recent reshuffle of the top brass soon after taking over. Unprecedented in posture and boldness, Air Chief Marshal Hadi seemed to have drawn strength from his close relationship with President Joko Widodo.

Appointed in April 2017 to replace General Gatot Nurmantyo, ACM Hadi and the president have known each other since their time in Solo as commander of the Adi Sumarmo airbase and mayor of the city, respectively. Good personal ties between them continued up to ACM Hadi’s appointment as the president’s military secretary and more recently as the air force chief of staff before his latest elevation. Who is the new TNI commander?

… Satrio Dwicahyo Rahadi is a Research Associate with the Indonesia Programme, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.