Radhiyya Indra, Jakarta – The concern came on the heels of the Army's successful establishment of 155 of so-called territorial development battalions as of April, a program which the government outlined in November last year, to have one unit in each of 514 regencies and cities across Indonesia. These new battalions are tasked with supporting development programs such as food security and infrastructure projects.
Security analyst D. Nicky Fahrizal of Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said the move reflects Prabowo's accelerated "securitization" attempt, which frames welfare, economic and infrastructure programs as "security instruments".
"This securitization attempt shows in the battalions' expansion. It strengthens the state's presence across regions while simultaneously emphasizing [the military] as repressive instruments for the country's development," Nicky said during a livestreamed CSIS media briefing on Monday.
Nicky also stressed the massive scale of expansion in the military's recruitment targets for the new battalions, with around 24,000 enlisted soldiers (Tamtama) expected to serve in noncombat roles.
He further criticized the "normalization" of these territorial battalions, which he said should have only been established for wartime or emergency purposes instead of everyday situations.
"When military actors designed for emergencies become normalized in peacetime, the state gradually falls into creeping militarization," he said.
Nicky pointed to "creeping militarization" in the increasing examples of the military's growing involvement in civilian domains, from the food estate development to the flagship free meals program.
More recently, the military will be involved in the state-funded Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) scholarship, where they would reportedly help infuse nationalism for the program's awardees.
"You have to ask: 'What's the purpose?' Even if the goal is to bolster patriotism, it doesn't have to come from the military," Nicky told The Jakarta Post after the briefing.
No stopping soon?
The CSIS researcher noted that this battalion expansion has coincided with a "significant" rise of defense and security spending under Prabowo's presidency, alongside a drop in fiscal transfers to regional administrations, which indicates a shift in state priorities.
Should the trend continue in the following years, Nicky said it could lead to "bureaucratic stagnation" and eventually "the silencing of critical voices and stigmatization of civilian opposition".
"The pattern is there, the fiscal shifts already happened under this administration," he added.
In Papua, similar concerns have been raised regarding how conflicts were usually addressed through military action instead of using approaches that considered "political and economic factors", which CSIS analyst Vidhyandika Djati Perkasa said should be the number one priority.
"Once these problems are framed as security and sovereignty issues, military logic tends to dominate, which can narrow the space for dialogue," Vidhyandika said during the same event.