This has effectively revived the discourse on the law from the previous term.
What is noteworthy this time round is that the DPR has officially announced the drafting of the amendment bill as part of the 2025 Priority National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).
This means that discussions surrounding the military bill are expected to conclude by no later than this year.
Consequently, Commission I of the DPR—which oversees matters related to defense, foreign affairs, communication, and intelligence—has been assigned the task of advancing the amendment process.
This is despite the commission being asked to prioritize the drafting of a bill to revise Law No. 32 of 2002 concerning broadcasting.
Usually, it is mandatory for a parliamentary commission to finish working on a prioritized bill before moving on to another.
Regardless, the DPR agreed to make the Military Bill a priority during a plenary meeting on February 18, 2025.
Since then, Commission I has convened meetings with experts, academicians, and community organizations to gather views and suggestions on the TNI Bill.
The bill seeks to revise three articles of the military law pertaining to the position of the TNI, the retirement age for soldiers, and civilian posts for active military officers.
This has, unsurprisingly, sparked public concerns about a potential resurgence of the military's dual-function role, which is associated with the extensive involvement of active military officers in civil state institutions.
The efforts to revise the TNI Law have reminded the nation of the practices witnessed during the New Order Era under the second Indonesian president Soeharto.
This reawakened fear partly stems from reports that the draft TNI Bill has provisions that allow the president to appoint soldiers to civil positions at his or her discretion.
These unconfirmed reports were circulated during the previous legislative period, during the term of the seventh president Joko Widodo.
During a meeting with Commission I on March 11, 2025, Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin suggested that the TNI Law revisions include the expansion of civil positions that active soldiers are eligible to hold.
However, it is important to note that the suggestion largely advocates for increasing the number of posts available at civil institutions in the security and law sectors for soldiers.
Under the existing TNI Law, the nation has become, to some degree, accustomed to seeing soldiers work in these sectors, which, in essence, are related to their field of expertise.
Civil supremacy and military professionalism
Article 48 of the TNI Law allows active soldiers to hold positions at 10 civil institutions, including the Coordinating Ministry for Political and Security Affairs and the Defense Ministry.
The institutions also include the Presidential Military Secretariat, State Intelligence Agency (BIN), National Cyber and Encryption Agency (BSSN), and National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas).
They further comprise the National Defense Council, National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), National Narcotics Agency (BNN), and the Supreme Court.
Sjamsoeddin has suggested broadening the provision to include posts in the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT), Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla), and the Attorney General’s Office.
Since their founding, the BNPT, BNPB, and Bakamla have had active TNI officers in structural roles. For instance, Lieutenant General Suharyanto currently leads the BNPB.
Meanwhile, active soldiers began filling positions in the Attorney General’s Office after the 2021 amendment to Law No. 16 of 2004, which allowed TNI officers to serve as Deputy Attorney General for Military Crimes.
However, deputy speaker of Commission I, Dave Laksono, confirmed that the DPR has decided to abandon the proposal to allow active soldiers to serve in the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries.
Considering that TNI officers are holding posts at the three institutions, it is safe to deduce that the Military Bill essentially aims to formalize their services rather than broaden the scope of soldiers' involvement in civilian affairs, as feared by some accounts.
This view was confirmed by Deputy Speaker of the DPR Sufmi Dasco Ahmad who clarified that the revised draft of the bill will only regulate existing practices observed across these civilian institutions.
While guaranteeing civil supremacy in the TNI Law revisions, he said that the rise in public sentiment against any military dual-function role was mainly caused by a lack of clarity surrounding the bill’s formulation.
Meanwhile, TNI Commander General Agus Subiyanto has told legislators at Commission I that, although he deems the amendment necessary, he can guarantee that the TNI will remain committed to maintaining the boundaries between civilian and military domains.
It will do so by adhering to the principles of civil supremacy and military professionalism in carrying out its main tasks, he said.
The formulation of the bill has continued to advance, with the DPR deciding to bring the priority legislation program to a plenary meeting for further deliberations at a higher level.
According to the plan, the meeting is scheduled for Thursday (March 20, 2025).
That said, one may assume that the bill is almost ready to become law, with time being the only hurdle left, especially since President Prabowo Subianto has given his approval for its drafting.
Commission I speaker Utut Adianto confirmed this after meeting with the head of state on Wednesday, saying that President Prabowo has no objections to the proposed changes to the TNI Law.
Pinning hopes on the bill
The Indonesian nation undoubtedly owes a great deal to its military and soldiers who have consistently shown their strength and dedication to protect national integrity.
In late September 1965, for example, the military, then called ABRI (Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia), played a crucial role in defending the nation against a bloody uprising initiated by a now-defunct Communist party that sought to undermine the foundational ideology of Pancasila in Indonesia.
From time to time, the military has also played a key role in keeping the country together amid multiple separatist movements.
However, it would be imprudent for the nation to overlook the need to restrict active soldiers’ involvement in civil institutions and affairs unrelated to their primary function.
The nation’s demand for civil supremacy ultimately led to President Soeharto’s abdication in 1998, marking the end of the New Order Era and the dawn of the Reformasi Era.
This shift deprived the military of its long-standing rights to positions in civil institutions, including the parliament.
It is only natural for policymakers at the present time to learn from and consider these military-civil dynamics when shaping the strategic role of the TNI, while keeping national interests a priority.
Therefore, the drafting of the TNI Bill should ensure that the military remains within the domain it is granted in this Reformation Era.
The revisions must clearly dictate that active military personnel serving in civil situations will be bound by the rules, regulations, and administrative provisions applicable at the institutions where they are posted.
It is vital that the DPR, in drafting the bill, keeps the people’s voices in mind and heeds their demand for a more reliable and professional TNI that remains under the control of the civil administration.
This way, the TNI Bill can help the military strengthen its presence in society and solidify its role in protecting the country without compromising on the principles of democracy and civil supremacy the nation adheres to.
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Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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