Ministry of Defence: Two Reserve Component Battalions per Regency to Align with Main Component

The Ministry of Defence has stated that the plan to build two Reserve Component (Komcad) battalions per regency/city will be adjusted in line with the development of the main component. Head of the Ministry of Defence’s National Reserve Agency, Lieutenant General TNI Gabriel Lema, said the presence of the reserve component serves as a force multiplier and enlarger of the strength possessed by the main component. “This is a complete collaboration and cannot be separated from one another,” said Lieutenant General Gabriel during a press conference in Jakarta on Saturday. He explained that Indonesia’s defence employs the Universal People’s Defence and Security System (Sishankamrata). The universal defence system, he said, encompasses the main component, the reserve component, and the supporting component. In developing the main component, namely the Indonesian Army, Navy, and Air Force, Gabriel noted there is also a discourse that one battalion or one city throughout Indonesia will in future be guarded by one Territorial Development Battalion. “Togetherness in the context of the reserve component is to enlarge strength, this adjusts and aligns so that the reserve component, its future projection, will also be present in every regency or city,” he said. Accordingly, he stated that the Ministry of Defence will gradually but surely implement the formation of two Reserve Component battalions per regency. The development, according to him, will also be adjusted to existing needs, priority scales, and capabilities. The discourse on building two Special Reserve Component battalions in all regencies across Indonesia was previously expressed by Deputy Minister of Defence Donny Ermawan Taufanto. “Our hope is that in every regency there will be two Reserve Component battalions, in 514 regencies,” said Donny during a press conference after the closing ceremony of the Reserve Component basic military training for civil servants at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base, Jakarta, on Friday (5/6). Donny explained that the construction of Reserve Component battalions is being carried out so that TNI personnel in the regions can easily obtain additional personnel support in carrying out defence tasks. To meet this need, the Ministry of Defence is actively opening reserve component training for civil servants at both central and regional government levels.