President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo (front, right), talks with People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Bambang Soesatyo (left), House of Representatives Speaker Puan Maharani (second left) and Regional Representative Council (DPD) Speaker La Nyalla Mahmud Mattalitti (second right) after the State of the Nation Address during the annual MPR plenary session at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta on Aug 16, 2024. – The Jakarta Post
JAKARTA: Indonesia should set up a cyber force as the fourth branch of its military, People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Bambang Soesatyo proclaimed in his address at the annual MPR plenary session on Friday (Aug 16).
He said it would make for a timely response to the nation’s “vulnerable” geopolitical position amid developments on the Internet of Military Things (IoMT), which describes the deployment of actors and networks of devices connected via the internet for military purposes.
“We all know the world has entered the era of the [IoMT] where military operations can be increasingly carried out over great distances with speed, precision and accuracy,” the senior Golkar lawmaker said in a nationally televised broadcast of the meeting.
“It is time for Indonesia to swiftly lay the groundwork for a fourth branch of the Indonesian Military (TNI) by creating a cyber force that will strengthen the three existing branches – the Army, Navy and Air Force.”
The suggestion follows the recent assassination of Ismael Haniyeh, a leader of the Hamas militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, by a drone strike in Iran last month that was blamed on Israel.
The death of the peace negotiator has stoked fears of wider conflict in the Middle East.
The idea was also proposed by the head of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas) and a former intelligence chief last year, sparking fears that it could be wielded as a tool for state repression.
Similarly, Bambang bemoaned Indonesia’s “vulnerable position” of being geographically situated among members of the Five Power Defense Arrangements (FPDA) and caught amid the Russia-United States-China geopolitical rivalry, in which cybersecurity has an outsize focus.
The FPDA is a 53-year-old defense and security framework involving Malaysia, Singapore and Australia, which has been seeking to upgrade capabilities in areas such as cybersecurity and unmanned aircraft systems.
The MPR speaker also extolled the urgency of creating a dedicated government agency and regulatory framework for addressing persistent problems like national data breaches.
“Indonesia’s cybersecurity resilience is also in need of improvement,” Bambang said. According to the 2023 National Cyber Security Index released by the Estonia-based e-Governance Academy, Indonesia scores low globally and ranks fourth in South-East Asia, tied with the Philippines.
Over the past few years, various Indonesian government agencies and financial institutions have become the target of malicious hacking and ransomware attacks.
The government’s response, including from the National Cyber and Encryption Agency (BSSN), has fallen short of expectations, according to various experts and observers. – The Jakarta Post/ANN
