Muhammad Beni Saputra – Under President Prabowo Subianto, new laws and regulations have opened the door wider for the military to escape the barracks. These include Law 3 of 2025 on the Indonesian Military (TNI Law), which expands the scope of 'Military Operations Other Than War' (Operasi Militer Selain Perang, OMSP), and Government Regulation (PP) 35 of 2025 on the Personnel Administration of the Indonesian National Armed Forces.
As a result of these regulations, many core aspects of civilian life are now subject to direct military involvement. These include the Free Nutritious Meals (Makan Bergizi Gratis, MBG), the Village Cooperatives Program (Koperasi Merah Putih, KMDP), the Red and White Fishing Village Program (Kampung Nelayan Merah Putih, KNMP), and the Food Security Program.
There is no question that the military, especially the army, is expanding fast, building hundreds of battalions across Indonesia and recruiting tens of thousands.
What is less obvious is the major role that complicit local media have played in justifying this remilitarisation project.
Heightened risks
There are at least two reasons why local media are willing to propagate positive narratives that legitimise the TNI's increasing involvement in everyday civilian life.
The first and most obvious reason is to avoid backlash. Despite their abundance, local media are relatively weak entities.
Most do not have strong backing like their national media counterparts, especially those owned by tycoons or oligarchs. These wealthy owners have strong networks with political elites and the military, which make it easier to settle disputes with both. By contrast local media are isolated and poorer, and thus far more vulnerable to pressure.
In addition, unlike local media, national media have greater exposure and a higher public profile, which can bring broader attention to issues involving them, nationally and internationally. This gives them considerable leverage.
Intimidation cases, both overt and disguised, against Tempo journalists, Francisca Christy Rosana and Intan Setiawanti, for instance, triggered negative reactions across Indonesia. Francisca was sent a rotten pig head, while Intan had her phone unlawfully seized and inspected by military personnel while doing her job as a reporter. Francisca's story ultimately attracted global attention, with the incident being framed as an attack on press freedom by Indonesia's militarised regime.
But most local media do not have anything like this sort of reach, which is another reason many local journalists usually don't dare to cross lines – the consequences are too severe to bear. Not only can they lose their jobs, but they can even lose their lives. To date, almost all journalists killed in Indonesia during peacetime are local journalists.
Two recent cases are Rico Sempurna Pasaribu from North Sumatra, and Juwita from South Kalimantan. The former was burned alive in his house with his family members, while the latter was found dead on the street. The North Sumatra case allegedly implicates a military officer, while the South Kalimantan case concluded with an active military member being convicted of the murder.
The fact that local journalists suffer more than national journalists is not without precedent in Indonesia. In fact, in the tumultuous months leading to Soeharto's fall in 1998, scholars noted that even as the national media started to become free, local media continued to experience repression and local journalists continued to face intimidation from the military.
Deepening co-option
The post-Soeharto removal of the Press Publishing Business License (Surat Izin Usaha Penerbitan Pers, SIUPP) led to an explosion of local media, and digitalisation made the number even larger. In 2020 alone, there were around 47,000 outlets in operation across Indonesia, and the current number is likely much higher.
However, the large number of local media is not supported by sustainable income streams. Since the beginning of Reformasi, many local outlets have therefore depended heavily on third-party funding.
Now, with the continued deterioration of income sources and the monopoly tech companies enjoy over digital revenues, local media are becoming more and more prone to being co-opted by financiers, including local military offices, under the banner of kerjasama (cooperation), pembinaan (capacity-building), or 'synergy'.
The military even have signed MoUs with some local outlets, although the financial arrangements that underpin them are rarely disclosed.
This has all shaped the way local media report on the military. Its activities are praised, while misconduct is disguised, often being attributed simply to 'rogue actors' (oknum).
A prime example of such reporting is TNI Manunggal Membangun Desa (TMMD, Integrated TNI-Village Development Program), a program that allows the TNI to work with local governments and communities to 'develop' rural regions in Indonesia. This program resembles the New Order's notorious ABRI Masuk Desa (Armed Forces Enter the Village) program, for decades a tool for surveillance and repression.
In recent years, the military has increasingly entered civilian life by carrying out development projects unrelated to the primary tasks of a modern military. Many local media portray these TMMD projects as evidence of the military's dedication (pengabdian) to village communities or of its sincere love for the people.
But while most local media routinely praise TMMD, they do not convey a complete picture of the program. In fact, TMMD usually involves money generated from the Regional Government Budget (Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Daerah, APBD). Most local media articles do not reveal the true nature of these activities, which are essentially similar to other village projects funded by Village Fund (Dana Desa) or district and provincial projects financed through APBD. Instead, local media wrongly present TMMD as a product solely of the generosity of the armed forces.
Even fewer reports, if any, are published on how TMMD procurement is conducted, let alone how budgets are spent, even though there could be major problems in both areas.
Glorification of TNI
While local media reporting on military activities is biased, it cannot be denied that some soldiers do genuinely help villagers in many aspects of life. During disasters affecting different regions of Indonesia, for example, the military has made extraordinary efforts to relieve the burdens of affected victims.
But that does not alter the fact that local media is typically uncritical and subjective in its reporting on the military. The military is glorified as made up of dedicated fellow Indonesians who sacrifice themselves for the betterment of villagers, contrasted with corrupt village heads (kepala desa, kades) or regional heads (bupati) who notoriously misuse public money. This simplistic moral binary is simply not accurate.
It is high time for Indonesia to improve the welfare and working conditions of local media, ensuring that local journalists are protected from repression and intimidation, in accordance with Law 40 of 1999 on the Press. It is also crucial to strengthen the economic sustainability of local media and journalists through public funding mechanisms, so they can become more independent in carrying out their press duties.
The stakes are high: the local media need our support.