Defence Ministry: No Reserve Component Involved in Securing Student Protest
The Ministry of Defence has stated that no reserve component (Komcad) soldiers were deployed to assist in securing a student demonstration titled ‘Towards a Bankrupt Indonesia’ around the Sudirman-MH Thamrin area in Central Jakarta on Friday, 12 June 2026. Head of the Defence Information Bureau at the Ministry of Defence Secretariat General, Brigadier General Rico Sirait, said that at the same time, his agency was indeed conducting a Civil Servant Reserve Component Readiness Assembly. However, the activity was not intended for security purposes. “The Readiness Assembly was conducted as part of a preparedness test and routine post-training development,” Rico said via WhatsApp message on Saturday, 13 June 2026.
Rico explained that the activity was a reserve component development programme planned well in advance. Therefore, the Civil Servant Reserve Component Readiness Assembly had no connection to the demonstration. Moreover, Rico stated that facts on the ground also showed no reserve component soldiers assisting in security alongside other military or police personnel. “After the Readiness Assembly concluded, the reserve component personnel returned to their duties at their respective agencies,” he said.
Allegations of reserve component involvement in assisting protest security were highlighted by the Civil Society Coalition for Security Sector Reform. Concerns intensified after a Ministry of Defence letter dated 11 June 2026, Number B/572/VI/2026/BACADNAS, ordered approximately 500 civil servant reserve component soldiers to participate in a Readiness Assembly on 12 June 2026. Coalition representative Muhammad Isnur said that involving the reserve component in securing demonstrations is erroneous. Within the national defence system, the reserve component is established as a resource prepared to strengthen the main component in facing threats to national defence, not for securing protests.
The coalition assessed the mobilisation of the reserve component on 12 June as illegal. Article 63 paragraph (1) of the PSDN Law explicitly states that the President may declare mobilisation if all or part of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia is in a state of military emergency or a state of war. Furthermore, Article 63 paragraph (2) of the PSDN Law requires the President to obtain approval from the House of Representatives before declaring such mobilisation. Therefore, the deployment of the reserve component by the Ministry of Defence in peacetime constitutes an illegal mobilisation. “This action usurps the authority of the President as the supreme holder of power over the armed forces,” said the Chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI).
The student demonstration titled ‘Towards a Bankrupt Indonesia’ carried five demands for the Prabowo Subianto administration. The government is demanded to halt all policies eroding the State Budget. Other demands include lowering the prices of basic necessities and fuel, stopping the free nutritious meal project and the construction of red-and-white village cooperatives, halting the expansion of militarism in civilian spaces, and urging Prabowo to acknowledge the government’s mistakes. The action was attended by several student groups, including the University of Indonesia Student Executive Board, Jakarta State Polytechnic Student Executive Board, and IPB University Student Executive Board, among others.