The Indonesian Military (TNI) under the administration of President Prabowo Subianto is growing bigger. The Army (TNI AD) now has 21 Regional Military Commands (Kodam) from the previous 15 throughout Indonesia.

In addition to adding new territorial commands, Prabowo has also added six Special Forces command groups, 20 developmental territorial brigades and a fast-reaction troop regiment. Prabowo has also installed a deputy TNI commander after the position has been vacant for 25 years.

The augmentation of the organisational structure of the TNI has drawn criticism from activists. The expansion of the organisation is certain to burden the budget and is contrary to the budget efficiency policy. The TNI has instead added to the budget, rather then streamlining the organisation.

The addition of new Kodams is also contrary to the TNI Law and the mandate of reformasi – the political reform process that began with the resignation of former president Suharto in 1998 – which demands the elimination of the military's dual socio-political function (dwi-fungsi). The new Kodams are like a return to Suharto's New Order era.

At that time, the Kodams monitored society, controlled the political parties and sustained the interests of the regime. Who knows what the government wants to achieve with the fattening of the TNI organisation.

We explain the problems of the additional new Kodams in two articles titled What's the Urgency of the New Additional TNI AD Kodams and Rules Violated in the Addition of the New TNI AD Kodams: https://koran.tempo.co/read/Neration/493326/apa-api-Penjaud-udi-buni-DNI-AD.

[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Beban Anggaran Penambahan Kodam".]

Source: https://www.tempo.co/politik/penambahan-kodam-baru-daerah-tni-ad-2057281