Since its heyday during the New Order period, the TNI has gone from then-president Soeharto’s tool to stamp out dissidents among the masses, to an institution strictly focused on Indonesia's defense, thanks to the student-led protests that helped bring about the fall of Soeharto’s authoritarian regime.

But Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid said that a number of the provisions proposed by the TNI would put civil supremacy in jeopardy.

Speaking on Sunday during a press briefing hosted by Imparsial, a member of the coalition of civil groups, Usman took issue with the proposed expansion of the TNI’s non-war military operations.

The current TNI Law outlines 14 types of military operations for non-war purposes that allow TNI participation, such as during armed rebel conflicts and when countering terrorism. But, the proposed amendment to the law seeks to expand it to 19 types of operations, including aiding the government in facing cyberattacks and stamping out illicit drug circulation in the country.

“[Expanding the number of non-war operations] from 14 to 19 is clearly one thing that is very wrong in the [proposed] revision of the TNI Law, since the TNI will once again be above the law,” Usman said, as quoted from a YouTube video posted by Imparsial.

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Usman also pointed to a proposed revision that seeks to exclusively try members of the military in military courts, as opposed to the current arrangements where personnel can be tried in a military court for military-related violations and through the general court system for regular crimes.

“It would be the weakening of civil supremacy, the weakening of equality before the law and weakening of civilian political control [over the military] that would be harmed most by the proposed revisions to the TNI Law,” Usman said.

Echoing Usman, activist Gufron Mabruri from Imparsial said that the proposed amendment to the TNI Law showed how the spirit of the sweeping reforms of 1998 had been lost over the past 25 years.

"I think there are many who see that there has been stagnation and setbacks in the 1998 agenda of reforming the TNI," Gufron said.

Imparsial and fellow activist groups pointed to a provision that seeks to allow active military officers to occupy positions in 18 ministries and government agencies, nearly double the current number of 10 stipulated in the prevailing law, as an example of these setbacks.

They also criticized a provision that would raise the retirement age for high-ranking officers from 58 years to 60 years in extraordinary cases, particularly “soldiers who have special abilities, competencies and expertise”.

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Concerns over the specter of militarism have been growing since the emergence of the draft proposal earlier this month.

But TNI chief Adm. Yudo Margono, a senior minister and some lawmakers have played down the issue and said that concerns surrounding the amendment were premature because the proposed revisions were still being internally discussed by the TNI.

And while Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto appears to have rejected a proposed overhaul of the TNI Law, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said last week that he would only comment on the proposed revision once the draft had been finalized.