Indonesian lawmakers give military bigger role in government

[JAKARTA] Indonesia passed legislation on Thursday (Mar 20) expanding the role of South-east Asia’s largest armed forces, undoing some of the curbs installed two decades ago after the Suharto dictatorship and adding fresh questions about the country’s direction under President Prabowo Subianto. 

Parliament, controlled by parties of former general Prabowo’s ruling coalition, approved revisions that will let active-duty military personnel assume a broader range of civilian positions, including within the Attorney General’s Office, and expand the scope of non-combat military operations.

The legislation revises a 2004 law aimed at reining in the military’s deep reach in politics and business under Suharto, who ruled Indonesia for three decades until his ouster amid street protests in the late 1990s. The changes on Thursday were passed at breakneck speed after Prabowo, Suharto’s former son-in-law, threw his support behind the effort despite what critics described as democratic backsliding in one of the region’s most successful democracies.

They come as foreign investors are already questioning Indonesia’s direction under Prabowo, with heavy selling of stocks earlier this week partly due to fears, since dispelled, that the country’s long-serving finance minister would resign. 

Outside the parliament building in Jakarta, about 5,000 police and military personnel along with water cannons and dozens of tactical vehicles were deployed to secure a planned student protest, according to police. 

Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, a senior politician from Prabowo’s political party, sought to ease public concerns ahead of the vote, saying opposition was “understandable” but that discussions with stakeholders were extensive. “There is no reinstatement of the dual-function role in this revision,” he added, referring to the military’s long reach decades ago. BLOOMBERG