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View all search resultsTNI involvement in COVID-19 management: Lessons learned
Ensuring TNI readiness to respond to a broad range of MOOTW challenges should be included in the defense modernization plan to, at a minimum, prevent overstretching resources.
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S
ince his appointment, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto has been actively engaging world leaders to obtain arms deals for the purchase of new weapons, including pursuing technology transfer agreements. These activities reflect Prabowo's goal of advancing the defense modernization of the Indonesian Military (TNI).
The COVID-19 pandemic, however, interfered with progressing toward this goal. The TNI has come to play an important role in maintaining COVID-19 governance in Indonesia. Indeed, its involvement sparked some concerns about the possible expansion of the military beyond defense matters, with many activists and academics expressing concern. Nonetheless, it would be unwise to neglect the fact that the military made a positive contribution to suppressing the outbreak.
The precarious situation of the pandemic certainly has impacted the arms procurement plan, at least in financial terms. Nonetheless, beyond the financial issue, there are other lessons we can learn from the current COVID-19 outbreak, particularly because of the military's involvement in pandemic management.
We can draw at least three lessons: Improving military readiness and capability requires more than adding modern weapons, the need to improve the capability for military operations other than war (MOOTW), and the formulation of the next modernization plan should go beyond the current pandemic situation.
First, increasing military readiness and capability is not limited to adding state-of-the-art military armaments. Improving military infrastructure can be another way to do so. The formation of the COVID-19 task force in March 2020 and later the COVID-19 handling and national economic recovery committee in July 2020 further facilitated the supporting role of the military in combating the outbreak.
The TNI's supporting roles in COVID-19 primarily revolved around civil actions, logistical distribution and enforcement of health protocols. The TNI carried out this work hand-in-hand with civilian partners, such as assisting the police with health protocol enforcement in many cities.
The TNI’s extensive infrastructure network also helped the government to improve administrative efficiency. For example, military hospitals across the country served as additional medical facilities to support COVID-19 management, not to mention the establishment of some emergency medical units, particularly on Galang Island, Riau Islands province.
