Fajar Pebrianto, Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mahfud Md clarified the recent controversy related to the appointment of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and Police personnel as acting regional heads. He ensured that no regulation restricts it.
"It (appointing soldiers and police officers as acting regional heads) is justified by law, government regulations, and the Constitutional Court's verdict," said Mahfud in an official statement, Wednesday, May 25, 2022.
TNI and Police personnel serving as acting regional heads is possible because there will be hundreds of vacant regional head positions in 2022 due to the 2024 General Election. On April 10, 2022, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said there will be 101 acting regional heads.
Mahfud explained that a number of regulations allow it, such as Law No. 34 of 2004 concerning the TNI and Law No. 11 of 2017 on the management of civil servants.
"It is noted that TNI and Police members are allowed to occupy certain civilian positions and be given an equal structural position," he said.
Additionally, there is a Constitutional Court's (MK) ruling No. 15/PUU-XX/2022 published on April 20, 2022. "As long as members of the TNI and Polri have high-level or Pratama positions, they may become acting regional heads," he remarked.
Mahfud Md thus asked all parties to read this decision clearly. He mentioned that the appointment of TNI and Police members as acting regional heads had been carried out in 2017 and 2018, as well as in 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.