“We Live In A Different Age Now”: Why Indonesia’s Military Is Unlikely To Return To Politics

CNAonline

01 May 2021

February’s coup in Myanmar has turned the spotlight on other Southeast Asian countries whose militaries have played a significant political role. Before 1998—when former president B J Habibie laid the foundations of Indonesia’s democratic reforms after he took over from the previous president Suharto — the Indonesian military played the dual role of security institution and sociopolitical force — and then the latter role was “excised”, noted Dr. Leonard Sebastian, Associate Professor, Co-Ordinator of the Indonesia Programme at RSIS in Singapore. Compared to Myanmar and Thailand, analysts like Sebastian believe democracy is set to stay in Indonesia. He believes a coup in Indonesia is unlikely because “we live in a different age now”. RSIS Visiting Fellow Dr. Noor Huda Ismail said Suharto, a former general, used the military’s might “for his own purposes”, for instance to annex East Timor. “No doubt he also asked the military to do things that might harm its own people,” he said. “We (saw) a number of human rights abuses, either in Aceh, Papua, East Timor, also against the so-called ‘kelompok kanan’, the (threat from right-wing) Islamist groups.”

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Last updated on 04/05/2021