September 9, 2025 | 09:38 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In his speech before the People's Consultative Assembly on August 15, 2025, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto presented the Draft State Budget for 2026. This was Prabowo's first opportunity to shape the budget without the involvement of the previous president. One prominent idea in Prabowo's plan is a universal defense.
Prabowo aims to strengthen the Indonesian military (TNI). The former Commander of the Special Forces Command not only intends to acquire new defense equipment such as submarines and fighter jets, but also wants the military to be involved in non-defense matters, one of which is handling food security.
Prabowo, a holder of an honorary general rank, has recently initiated this. He inaugurated the establishment of a new military regional command and increased the number of elite Special Forces units of the Army to six groups. Prabowo also formed a territorial construction battalion and a territorial construction company.
The Head of the Army's Public Relations Division, Brigadier General Wahyu Yudhayana, stated that the presence of territorial units is to support defense and regional governments. However, criticism of the expansion of military regions has emerged.
Researcher at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Made Supriatma, sees the military's regional expansion as a setback for military reform. The military has the potential to meddle in civilian and business affairs. Similarly, Al Araf from the Center for Strategic and International Studies warns that the expansion of the TNI's structure could erode the budget for modernization and the welfare of soldiers, as the government will have to add new troops.
We discuss this expansion of military command in an interactive article titled "Perluasan Struktur Tentara Nasional Indonesia" or "Expansion of Indonesia's National Military Structure".
Editor’s Choice: Ministry: No TNI Takeover in Protest Handling, Deployment Only to Support Police Forces
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