RSIS Panel Webinar “TNI Beyond 2024: Between Reform, Modernisation, & Regional Security Challenges”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) was in the process of modernising its force structure under the Minimum Essential Force (MEF) programme, which envisioned the military enhancing its external deterrence capabilities without the expansion of its force structure by 2024. Nonetheless, the devastating socioeconomic impact of the pandemic has 1) hurt economic growth and reduced available government revenues needed to fund military modernisation, and 2) accelerated trends relating to the expansion of the TNI’s non-military ambit. These two developments have the potential to derail the objectives of the MEF programme. This webinar is a timely attempt to examine the current progress of military reform and modernisation in Indonesia according to the MEF blueprint and the expansion of TNI’s role beyond its primary responsibility of external defence. Amidst the pandemic situation, this webinar allows us to evaluate the current status of TNI reform and modernisation as well as the security challenges that the military might face in the near future.