Briefings

Sejak rezim Orde Baru (1966-1998) tumbang, kecuali dalam satu periode singkat antara 1998-2001, kekuasaan dan otoritas pasukan keamanan Indonesia di wilayah West Papua secara umum tidak pernah berkurang. Menurut kami, hal itu terjadi karena dua alasan, dan kedua alasan itu berasal dari kegagalan menjalankan reformasi politik yang sejati di West Papua dan Indonesia.

It has been more than two decades since a process of democratic reform was initiated in Indonesia under which the military stepped back from its political role. As part of the reforms, the military were gradually removed both from legislative posts that guaranteed it political representation and also posts in Indonesia’s civilian bureaucracy. 

However, in 2019, the military indicated its wishes to re-insert serving military officers into the bureaucracy, in Ministries and Departments not directly concerned with military and security affairs. In this briefing, we address this issue by placing it in the context of broader military reform. We argue that, although some reforms after the fall of the New Order regime under President General Suharto were effective, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (2004-2014) avoided committing to further meaningful reforms, by cloaking military influence under the banner of ‘professionalisation’.