The President’s bold statement comes at the right time following recent military developments.

First, a new regulation was issued on June 12 to allow Indonesian Military (TNI) officers to assume knowledge- and skills-based positions at TNI headquarters. Despite notable institutional progress, some observers are still concerned about setbacks in military reform over the past few years.

Central to their concerns are the issues of political neutrality, operations other than war and the appointments of TNI officers to active positions beyond defense.

Second, an Indonesian Army helicopter carrying 12 personnel went missing late last month during a logistics mission in the Papuan highlands. The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has recorded 119 similar incidents in the country’s military aviation history. At an average of three cases per year, 12.6 percent of these incidents occurred in 2014-2019.

If this trend continues unaddressed, it is not only detrimental to troop morale and the TNI’s capacity for deterrence, but also undermines Indonesia’s border diplomacy with neighboring countries.

In that context, concepts such as “objective control” and “military professionalism” remain relevant for the next five years. In theory, both work to inhibit the resurrection of a “praetorian army” and prohibit military intervention in civilian affairs. Moreover, close observation of the recent strategic landscape shows that threats to national defense are increasingly dynamic, multidimensional and technologically sophisticated. Hence, “military transformation” is likely to become the leading concept for future organizational changes within the defense establishment.

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