will likely continue to build his working relationship with Defence Minister Ryamizard.

The other significant reason for the quick replacement of Gatot was to prevent him from appointing his supporters to important leadership positions before he was set to retire in March 2018. On the same day as Hadi’s nomination, Gatot implemented a massive leadership rotation of 85 officers, the second major leadership rotation in a matter of months. The first leadership rotation did not receive much pushback, as the key appointment was Major General Tatang Sulaiman as Army Vice Chief of Staff. Tatang has fallen into Jokowi’s political circle since his previous promotion as military spokesman, and then as regional military district commander in Central Java, where he was tasked with securing the recent wedding of Jokowi’s daughter.Tatang’s promotion to Vice Chief of Staff puts him next in line for the Army Chief of Staff position when Mulyono retires in 2019, potentially allowing Jokowi to further consolidate his allies’ hold on the army.

However, the more recent leadership rotation was more controversial with the instalment of the outgoing Kostrad Commander Edy Rahmayadi’s replacement, Major General Sudirman. Sudirman was the former head of the Sriwijaya Military Command in southern Sumatra, and is reported to be Gatot’s protégé. This would have placed a pro-Gatot commander in charge of Indonesia’s major fighting force ahead of upcoming elections involving retired generals allied to Gatot. The rotation was later stalled pending Hadi’s approval, after it was clear he would be the next Commander of the TNI—a sign that Jokowi was not