Novali Panji Nugroho, Jakarta – Indonesian Minister of Defense Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, along with the Head of the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM), Taruna Ikrar, signed a memorandum of understanding in the pharmaceutical field. Under this collaboration, the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) under the coordination of the Ministry of Defense will participate in the production of medications in the national defense pharmaceutical factory.
Minister Sjafrie stated that the medications produced by the military will be distributed to the public. According to Sjafrie, the prices of medications on the Indonesian market are still too high for most people to afford.
Therefore, he mentioned that the prioritized medications to be sent to rural areas will be sold at 50 percent cheaper than the market price. "So that the medications we produce can be accessible to the people in rural areas," he said at the Ministry of Defense office in Jakarta on Tuesday, July 22, 2025.
Sjafrie also mentioned that they are devising a scheme to make the prices of military-produced medications free. "We are considering how the prices could be further reduced and become essential medications that are free for the public," he said.
He stated that the production of medications by the Armed Forces has already commenced. He said that several medications produced by the military have started being distributed to the Red and White Village Cooperative, a government program that was released in July. "Towards October 5, we will start the massive production of medications," Sjafrie stated.
A military observer from the Institute for Security and Strategic Studies (ISESS), Khairul Fahmi, expressed concerns about the involvement of the Ministry of Defense and the military in the production of medications potentially disrupting the national pharmaceutical industry ecosystem.
"We must ensure that the presence of military institutions in the production and distribution of medications does not suffocate legitimate businesses," he stated on Sunday, May 4, 2025.
He mentioned that the pharmaceutical industry has been subjected to strict regulations and market mechanisms. Therefore, Fahmi called for government intervention to minimize these concerns.
"Government intervention should be corrective and complementary, instead of replacing the functions of legitimate structural actors," Fahmi said.