The Return of the New Order Era

THE revised Indonesian Military (TNI) Law reinforces the suspicions of many that President Prabowo Subianto wants to realize ‘command politics’ under his administration. In order to bring about his style of command, Prabowo needs subordinates who obey orders without question, and who can be bossed around without complaining. In the civilian bureaucracy, this command mentality has not been embedded, and compliance is often bogus. With the new law, TNI personnel can be posted to state institutions to execute all of the President’s command.

By increasing the range of civilian positions that can be occupied by active military officers from 10 to 15 institutions, President Prabowo is not only looking for jobs for his juniors. He is working to realize his ideal: guided government in the Chinese style. In his book The Indonesian Paradox and Its Solutions (2022), Prabowo put forward a recipe for Indonesian development: state capitalism and command politics.

He has realized state capitalism through the establishment of the Daya Anagata Nusantara Investment Management Agency, or Danantara. He has brought together state-owned companies under one organization that will manage state assets and natural resources directly under his control. The revised TNI Law is a manifestation of Prabowo’s other ambition to create a bureaucracy that is subservient and compliant like the culture within the military.

Prabowo has the ideal right-hand man for this. Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, a classmate from the Military Academy, kick-started the revisions to the TNI Law. House of Representatives (DPR) Deputy Speaker Sumfi Dasco Ahmad of the Gerindra Party led the deliberations of the revision. Their political power was increased after politicians from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) gave their support to the proposal.

Instead of becoming an opposition party, because it is not a member of Prabowo’s government coalition, the PDI-P became a driving force behind the deliberations over the revisions to the TNI Law. The need to make peace with the government at a time when law enforcement agencies are taking action against a number of party members—including Secretary-General Hasto Kristiyanto, who is now a corruption suspect—led to the PDI-P switching from opposing to pushing for the revisions to this law.

With this level of political support, the revisions to the TNI Law easily passed in the DPR despite not following the proper procedures for drawing up a law. The TNI Bill was not included in the 2025 Priority National Legislation Program decided by the DPR at a plenary session at the end of last year. And although the TNI Bill was a government initiative, the DPR treated it as if it was the legislature that had produced it.

The political parties became the main defenders of the revised TNI Law despite the fact that it violates democratic principles and betrays the ideals of the Reformasi movement. The TNI Law officially restores the military’s dual function and militarism, as well as special privileges for military personnel. As during the New Order era, military personnel have not only a defense and security function, but can also serve in many other sectors for extended periods of time, with protection from the Military Court Law.

It seems that the revised TNI Law is also something of a legacy of the work of former president Joko Widodo to justify his wrongdoings during his administration. In the Jokowi era, at least 2,500 serving military officers worked in civilian institutions, both within and outside the scope of the TNI Law. As Jokowi’s mouthpiece, Prabowo was tasked with legitimizing these transgressions.

Therefore, Prabowo’s mission to realize his ideal of command politics while ensuring his devotion to Jokowi has been accomplished.

In any case, Prabowo owes a debt of thanks to Jokowi because he did not become a ‘political vagrant’ after two presidential election defeats. In 2019, Jokowi saved Prabowo by appointing him Defense Minister. Five years later, with power and control over the state apparatus, Jokowi helped Prabowo win the presidency. Without any power, as Prabowo once said in an interview, his Rp2 trillion of assets would remain stagnant.

Conversely, Jokowi needs Prabowo to protect him from the legal consequences of his reckless use of state resources when he was in power. With all this entanglement of political interests and power, Prabowo is turning a deaf ear to voices and criticism from people who do not want him to continue with his plan to destroy democracy through revisions to the TNI Law. As a failed product of the Reformasi movement, Prabowo’s job is to return Indonesia to the time when the New Order was at its peak.