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Indonesia’s defense: Toward regional power by 2045
Today, within the systemic global system, the state is not the only dominant actor in international security, as other individual, non-state actors have gained influence.
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Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers take part in a parade marking the TNI's 78th anniversary on Oct. 5, 2023, at the National Monument Square in Jakarta. (Antara/Fauzan)
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onstitutionally, Indonesia has not acknowledged a legal conceptual definition of national defense, but rather one of state defense that is anchored in its experience as a former colony. Within this context, the military was formed by citizen soldiers with an initial role as a counterinsurgency force against the Dutch and Japanese colonial powers.
It is within this logic that the ontological focus of the Indonesian military’s existence since its inception has its roots in defending the internal homeland. Furthermore, post-1945, Indonesia has been growing as a non-alliance, non-nuclear and non-expansive independent state that is now becoming a middle power.
Correspondingly, Indonesia’s national defense and military must consistently adjust to this state of affairs taking into account the country’s future aspirations. So, the next question is whether Indonesia is aiming to become a democratic regional power by 2045 and if so, how does its national defense need to be built up and adjusted?
The 1945 Constitution called for a new category of armed citizens whose mission was to uphold law and order. Simply speaking, while the military was given the task of state defense, this new category was tasked with restoring and assuring the law and order of the newly independent state of Indonesia.
The first was later called the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the latter the National Police. The two are the main instruments of national power to secure Indonesia’s jurisdiction, and they have a significant overlap in the responsibilities regarding domestic security.
Is this classical realist-based and simplified concept that was created for a newly independent state in 1945 still relevant to Indonesia’s future destiny as a democratic regional power in 2045?
One way to view this phenomenon is by looking at the strategic logic behind the world’s great powers' national defense concepts, including the Roman Empire, the Mongolian Empire, the British Empire and the United States with its Pax-Americana global implications.
