Academics and Imparsial Warn of Human Rights Risks in the Presidential Regulation Draft on Involving the TNI
The Faculty of Law at the University of Brawijaya (UB), together with Imparsial, hosted a public discussion titled ‘Presidential Regulation Draft on Involving the TNI in Counter-Terrorism: Threats to Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Indonesia’ on Wednesday, 4 March 2026. The discussion emerged amid concerns among some circles that the draft regulation could widen the military’s role in domestic affairs. It also was seen as potentially creating overlap of authority among institutions and opening up risk of human rights violations.
To discuss the issue, the forum invited several speakers from academia and civil society, namely Imparsial Director Ardi Manto Adiputra, Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs of UB’s Faculty of Law Milda Istiqomah, and Political Science lecturer Arief Setiawan of the UB Faculty of Law. The three discussed various perspectives on the policy’s impact on democracy, human rights protection, and the rule of law in Indonesia.
In the discussion, the involvement of the TNI in counter-terrorism is a complex issue that involves legal, national security, and democratic aspects. While legally such involvement is possible, its implementation must be carefully regulated to avoid conflicts of authority between agencies, violations of human rights, and a regression in security sector reform.
Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs of UB’s Faculty of Law, Milda Istiqomah, stressed that legally the TNI’s involvement in counter-ter terrorism is already regulated under Law No. 5 of 2018 on the Eradication of Terrorist Acts. However, the presidential regulation draft seeks to regulate the role of the military in greater detail, down to the prevention and suppression stages.
‘In the Anti-Terrorism Law there are already articles regulating the involvement of the TNI in military operations other than war. But this Presidential Regulation draft regulates more detail down to the stage of prevention and enforcement,’ she said.
According to Milda, the draft could risk overlapping authority with bodies that have long held the mandate to tackle terrorism, such as BNPT and Densus 88. ‘We are concerned that broad involvement of the TNI would lead to overlap with institutions that have already played a role in counter-terrorism,’ she said.
She emphasised that military involvement should be a last resort in extraordinary circumstances when law enforcement cannot handle the threat. ‘If the threat to the state is very large and the police cannot handle it alone, the TNI can be involved. But its regulations should be at the statutory level, not merely in the Presidential Regulation,’ she added.
Civil Liberties at Risk
Director of Imparsial Ardi Manto Adiputra assessed that the process of drafting the RanPerpres on TNI involvement in counter-terrorism has not demonstrated adequate transparency. Ardi also highlighted several provisions in the draft that are seen as too broad and capable of granting the military significant powers. One point of concern is the definition of threats to the ideologies of the nation, which is considered broad and could leave room for subjective interpretation of who is deemed to threaten national ideology.
‘The definition of threats to the nation’s ideology in the draft is very broad. It could give the government room to interpret, subjectively, who is considered to threaten the state’s ideology,’ he said.
Ardi reminded that a military approach to counter-terrorism also risks accountability problems in law enforcement. ‘If a military approach is used, guarantees of civil rights protections will be further from fulfilment.’
Between Security and Democracy
This public discussion underscored that counter-ter terrorism is indeed a vital need for maintaining state stability. However, security policies must not come at the expense of democracy and human rights. From an academic perspective, the debate over the RanPerpres on involving the TNI in counter-ter terrorism shows that national security issues always lie at the intersection of effective threat handling and commitment to the rule of law.
Muktiono, Deputy Dean for Student Affairs, Alumni, and Student Entrepreneurship at the UB Faculty of Law, explained that the academic forum aims to ensure every security policy remains within constitutional bounds. ‘The activity aims to ensure that when there is a plan for regulations concerning TNI involvement in counter-ter terrorism, the policy upholds the rule of law, democracy, human rights, and civilian supremacy,’ he said.
He added that the academic studies from this forum are expected to inform the government and legislators to exercise caution in formulating policies on TNI involvement in counter-terrorism.