Why Indonesia’s new military law is alarming pro-democracy activists and rights groups

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s Parliament unanimously voted to pass a controversial revision of its military law on Thursday that will allow military officers to serve in more government posts without resigning from the armed forces, despite growing opposition from pro-democracy and rights groups who see it as a threat to the country’s young democracy.

In a plenary session, all eight political parties represented in Parliament backed the bill. The House of Representatives is largely controlled by parties supporting President Prabowo Subianto, a former army general with ties to the country’s dictatorial past.

Currently, active military officers can only serve in ministries or state institutions related to security, defense or intelligence under a landmark 2004 law that reduced the military’s role in civil affairs.

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What is at stake in Indonesia’s new military law?

The amendment to the 2004 Law on the Indonesian Armed Forces introduces several changes that aim to broaden the military’s role beyond defense.

Once in force, the new law will allow active officers to take civilian positions without having to retire or resign from service in four more bodies, including the Attorney General’s Office, the Supreme Court and the Coordinating Ministry for Political and Security Affairs.

Under current law, military personnel are permitted to serve in only 10 ministries and state institutions, including the Ministry of Defense, the National Intelligence Agency and the Search and Rescue Agency. But that number will now be expanded to 14 for non-combat military functions.

A new clause also grants the president the authority to appoint military personnel to other ministries as needed, according to the draft.

Why is the new law controversial?

The revision has raised concerns among pro-democracy activists and students who fear that expanding the military in civilian roles would restore the “dual function” of the armed services that they had in the era under the dictator Suharto.

At that time, seats in the legislature were reserved for the military, and officers occupied thousands of civilian roles from district chiefs to Cabinet ministers. The dual-function system effectively turned the armed forces into a tool for Suharto when he later became president to crush his political opponents.

Al Araf, the director of Indonesian rights group Imparsial, said Thursday the new law is inconsistent with the spirit of the reforms that followed the end of more than three decades of rule by Suharto in 1998 and returned the military to the barracks.

“The move has the potential to restore the authoritarian system,” Araf said.

Another major criticisms of the law is the way it has been discussed: behind closed doors, with little public input and in a fast-tracked process.

The latest draft was introduced less than a month ago, following a letter to the House from Subianto endorsing the bill. Pro-democracy activists discovered that lawmakers and government officials met in secret to discuss draft revisions at a five-star hotel in South Jakarta on March 15.

Dominique Nicky Fahrizal, a researcher at Indonesia’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said Thursday the way in which the law was drafted could prompt backlash.

“Autocratic legalism will damage the foundations of constitutional democracy because it exploits loopholes in the construction of legal thought,” he said.

What does the government say?

Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, a former three-star army general, defended the new law, saying that lawmakers considered it properly and it will make the military more effective.

In a speech after the parliament passed the bill into law, he said the amendments were necessary because the geopolitical changes and global technology require the military to transform “to face conventional and non-conventional conflicts.”

“We will never disappoint the Indonesian people in maintaining the sovereignty of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia,” he said.

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Associated Press journalists Edna Tarigan and Fadlan Syam in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.