President Prabowo Subianto's early actions signal a worrying trend towards remilitarization in Indonesia. Critics raise concerns about a return to Suharto-era practices, where the military played a dominant role in politics and society.
Nearly three decades after the fall of Indonesia 's authoritarian leader, General Suharto , the nation's new president is causing unease among liberals and others by increasingly turning to the once all-powerful military to carry out his governing vision.
Critics of President Prabowo Subianto point to the former defense minister's early actions as a worrying sign of his tendency to replace civilian functions with the military, raising comparisons to a Suharto-era doctrine called 'dwifungsi' (dual function) that allowed the armed forces to crush dissent and dominate public life. Just three months into office after sweeping to a landslide election victory last year, Prabowo has quickly expanded the armed forces' roles in several public areas, including running much of his flagship project to serve free school meals. His allies in parliament are also preparing legislation that would allow Prabowo to appoint active military officers into senior government positions, dismantling some of the safeguards put in place after Suharto was overthrown in 1998 following an economic crisis and popular uprising. Prabowo's resounding victory in last year's election was largely driven by younger voters, polls showed, a generation with little or no memory of Suharto's military-backed 'New Order' regime. A former son-in-law of Suharto, Prabowo was a special forces commander under his repressive 32-year reign and was later dismissed from the military amid unproven allegations of human rights abuses. Supporters of Prabowo, who has denied past rights abuses, say tapping the military for important projects offers efficiencies. But critics see in Prabowo's moves, including a recent expansion of military command structure, a worrying lurch toward remilitarization in the world's largest Muslim-majority country. 'He's not abiding by civil supremacy,' said analyst Yanuar Nugroho of Prabowo. 'He instead wants to restore the glory of the military... where various kinds of civic-works can be done by the military, arguing it will be faster, more effective,' said Yanuar, a former deputy chief of presidential staff to Prabowo's predecessor Joko Widodo. Prabowo's office did not respond to repeated requests for comment on military deployment for government projects. Although not replicating the 'dual function' of the past, Prabowo's early reliance on the military is raising concerns among Indonesian observers about the undoing of democratic reforms that sprang up after Suharto was ousted. 'There's a lot of aspects of the Prabowo administration that are seeking to replicate what existed under his former father-in-law Suharto,' said political analyst and author of the Indonesia-focused newsletter Reformasi Weekly, Kevin O'Rourke. 'Restoring military roles in politics is one aspect.' Under Suharto, there were no checks and balances, and the military was also involved in business, O'Rourke said, adding that the same pattern now could erode democratic oversight of government institutions, affecting policymaking. Combat-trained cooks and farmers Prabowo, who had an 81-percent approval rating after his first 100 days in office, has wasted little time in handing over large projects to the armed forces since taking office. The most visible example has been his $28-billion signature project to provide free school meals. Air Force Col. Satrya Dharma Wijaya is a case in point. His usual job is aircraft maintenance, but since November, he has been busy ordering stoves, refrigerators and frying pans to cook meals for thousands of children at a time at a base in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. 'This was previously a marshalling area where we prepared troops to deploy for an assignment,' said Satrya, wearing his short-sleeved blue uniform at Halim Perdanakusuma air base's newly expanded kitchen. The military was running 100 of the 190 kitchens operating by the project's launch in collaboration with the newly formed National Nutrition Agency, cooking up and delivering food for 570,000 children on its opening day. Army chief Gen. Maruli Simanjuntak said that a plan is under way for the military to form 100 special 'territorial development' units assigned to farming, fisheries and animal husbandry. Prabowo has also moved swiftly to vastly expand other military-run projects established when he was defense minister. A program for soldiers to clear land for cultivation has been increased by 50-fold with the aim of boosting Indonesia's food security from an initial 60,000 hectares to a projected 3 million ha — an area about the size of Belgium. He has also ordered the expansion of another of his projects, directing the Air Force to convert its idle land into rice and corn fields to be managed by soldiers and villagers to supply food for the free-meals project. In addition, he has declared a nationwide extension of a third small military civil-works initiative — laying water pipes for plumbing and irrigation in remote, poor areas
Indonesia Prabowo Subianto Military Democracy Suharto Remilitarization Human Rights
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