Cadets march in formation at the National Military Academy of Indonesia in Magelang, Central Java, on February 27, 2025. - AFP
JAKARTA: Lawmakers and the government are holding accelerated, closed-door talks on a planned revision to the Indonesian Military (TNI) Law, from which protesters were forcibly removed on Saturday (March 15), demonstrating the military’s growing influence in the country.
Concerns about the return of the TNI’s dwifungsi (dual function) role came to a head after a secret meeting of lawmakers on Saturday at Central Jakarta’s Fairmont Hotel, where members of House of Representatives Commission I overseeing defence hashed out new rules to expand the remit of the TNI in civilian life.
The Prabowo administration was reportedly represented at the meeting by Deputy Defence Minister Donny Ermawan. That afternoon, at least two activists from rights group the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) entered the hotel’s meeting room and called on lawmakers to stop the deliberations as they lacked meaningful public participation.
After making their statements, the activists were forcibly removed from the meeting room. A security guard at the hotel later reportedly filed a police report against one of the activists.
Kontras said TNI personnel and at least one tactical vehicle were seen around the hotel during the meeting. Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid said the lawmakers were continuing a trend of secret, rushed deliberations that once were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The pandemic period provided even more justification for lawmakers and the government to choose less democratic methods [in lawmaking] by holding [meetings] without public access and without the participation of civil society,” Usman said. He criticised how the activists were treated, saying they were within their constitutional rights to stage the protest.
Activists have also objected to lawmakers’ choice of holding the meeting at the high-end hotel at a time when the public is facing economic difficulties and amid the government’s sweeping austerity measures. “The government seems to have no shame, and the budget cuts are purely ‘all talk’ [...] since, ironically, the House and the government held discussions at a fancy hotel, which surely eats up a significant amount of the state budget,” Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) chairman Muhamad Isnur said on Saturday.
House secretary-general Indra Iskandar said it would have been impossible for the marathon deliberations to be held at the House because there were no sleeping accommodations there for lawmakers.
“[The decision to hold it at the hotel] was also based on an agreement between Commission I and the House speakership,” he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday. A lawmaker who attended Saturday’s meeting, TB Hasanuddin of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), was quoted by tempo.co as saying that no other meetings had been scheduled at the Fairmont Hotel for Sunday and that lawmakers would be taking their deliberations back to the House complex this week.
Aside from the circumstances of the deliberations, activists have objected to the contents of the bill itself, which would increase the number of state institutions to which active military officers can be appointed from ten to 15 and would raise the retirement age for TNI personnel.
The revision would also expand the TNI’s non-combat operations to cyberspace and combating the drug trade. This has raised concerns about overlapping responsibilities with the National Police, which have been hit with a series of scandals, including the alleged sexual abuse of a minor by a middle-ranking cop.
A statement made by a coalition of 34 rights groups on Sunday said the law revision would not only mark the return of the military impunity that was rampant under the dwifungsi system but would also hurt the TNI’s professionalism and betray Indonesia's commitment to human rights.
The coalition urged lawmakers and the government to stop the ongoing deliberation and create an independent committee to review the draft and provide recommendations.
Concerns of military overreach have mounted since Prabowo assumed office, as the former Army general has regularly looked to the TNI to help carry out his priority programmes.
Last month, for instance, TNI chief Gen. Agus Subiyanto signed an agreement with the Forestry Ministry that allowed military personnel to be involved in national forest conservation efforts.
Under Prabowo’s presidency, TNI personnel have also been appointed to high-ranking government posts, such as Maj. Gen. Irham Waroihan as the forestry ministry’s inspectorate general and Maj. Gen Novi Helmy Prasetya as State Logistics Agency (Bulog) president director.
The President’s closest aide, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya, also received an accelerated promotion from major to lieutenant colonel in a move that has been met with widespread criticism.
Political analyst Yoes Kenawas said on Sunday that the TNI’s growing influence affirmed that Prabowo was looking to fill strategic posts in his administration with people who shared his background and that it was for this reason that lawmakers appeared to have rushed the deliberation of the revision.
Prabowo chairs the Gerindra Party, the de facto leader of the Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM), which controls more than 80 per cent of seats in the House. “Prabowo sees himself as a war general and he is seemingly more comfortable [leading a government] that is structured like a military,” Yoes said.
“As a democracy, this should not be the case. The military should not precede civil society and should not be treated as a ‘magic cure’ for all of the country’s problems.” - The Jakarta Post/ANN
