The Indonesian Military Elite

Chapter two explores the career patterns of Army officers during the 1990's. Through a detailed analysis of succession patterns and the examination of class cohorts from the National Military Academy, this chapter further refines the basic model presented in chapter one. This analysis highlights several forms of institutional rationalization within the Army during the late Soeharto era. --

For more than half a century, the elite units of the Indonesian Armed Forces have been in the forefront of that country's brushfire wars, counter-guerrilla campaigns, counter-terrorist battles, and police actions. They have also dominated Indonesian politics for most of the decades since independence. Now for the first in print, a comprehensive guide to the uniforms and insignia used by the commandos and paratroopers of the Indonesian Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Police. In this illustrated supplement, hundreds of color photographs document the heraldry and rich histories of these special forces, from their origins to the present day. KEN CONBOY heads Risk Management Advisory, a security consultancy in Jakarta. A graduate of Georgetown University and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Conboy also studied at Sophia University in Tokyo and was a visiting fellow at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. A resident of Indonesia since 1992, he is the author of more than two dozen books on intelligence and military history.

This book is an analysis of Indonesia’s civil-military relations in the post-1998 reform era. It focuses on the political thinking of the Indonesian Army during the time of democratic consolidation. The book examines the army (Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Darat, TNI AD), a pivotal player in the political scene of Indonesian state, and the aspect of military ideology development. Based on in-depth interviews with civilian and military figures and applying the methodology of utilised process tracing and empirical analysis surrounding the appearance of military thinking, the book argues that the Indonesian military pursues to sustain its political power by propagating a set of values construed as moral compass for all members of society. Specifically, the book discusses the origins and impacts of ‘proxy war’ and ‘bela negara’ (‘defend the state’), which was promoted by former TNI Commander Gatot Nurmantyo (2015-2017) and former Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu (2014-2019). The authors demonstrate that both ideologies facilitate expansion of the military’s influence in all aspects of life and protection of its corporate interests in the age of democracy. Offering insights for theoretical discussion on the influence of military ideology to civil-military relations, particularly in the post-authoritarian period, this book will be of interest to academics and policy makers in the fields of Southeast Asian Politics, Asian Politics and Civil-Military Relations.

Throughout the postwar history of Indonesia, the military have played a key role in the politics of the country and in imposing unity on a fragmentary state. The collapse of the authoritarian New Order government of President Suharto weakened the state and the armed forces briefly lost their grip on control of the archipelago. However, under President Megawati, the military has again begun to assert itself, and re-impose its heavy hand on control of the state, most notably in the fracturing outer provinces. Based on extensive original research, this book examines the role of the military in Indonesian politics. It looks at the role of the military historically, examines the different ways it is involved in politics, and considers how the role of the military might develop in what is still an uncertain future.