PDIP Legislator Criticises Alleged Deployment of Reserve Component to Guard Student Protest
Member of Commission I of the House of Representatives, Tubagus Hasanuddin, has highlighted the alleged deployment of reserve forces to secure a student demonstration in Jakarta on Friday, 12 June 2026. He stated that, according to regulations, members of the reserve component, or Komcad, are only to be used in a state of war or under special circumstances. “Such as facing certain conditions, namely a major natural disaster. Its use must also be based on a presidential order,” said the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) politician in a written statement on Sunday, 14 June 2026.
His statement was a response to an instruction from the National Reserve Board of the Ministry of Defence, which ordered 500 Komcad members from the state civil apparatus (ASN) to be on standby alert on 12 June. This instruction was contained in letter Number B/752/VI/2026/Bacadnas dated 11 June 2026. Tubagus said the mobilisation of Komcad is regulated in Law Number 23 of 2019 concerning the Management of National Resources for State Defence. Under that law, he said, Komcad is not to be used in normal or peaceful situations.
Tubagus stated that in peaceful conditions, Komcad should only be directed towards training and capability improvement as part of the national defence system. “Not to be deployed to face public demonstrations,” he said. Although Komcad is part of the national defence component, Tubagus said the function of this force differs from that of security apparatus, particularly in dealing with demonstrations in public spaces. The retired two-star TNI general said deploying Komcad to secure protests is inappropriate and deviates from its main duties and functions. “Imagine if the student demonstration faced off directly with Komcad members who are also civil servants; if a clash occurred, it would potentially trigger horizontal conflict,” said Tubagus.
The Ministry of Defence denied deploying ASN Komcad to assist in securing the student demonstration on Friday, 12 June 2026. Head of the Defence Information Bureau at the Ministry of Defence, Brigadier General Rico Ricardo Sirait, said his ministry did hold a muster for hundreds of ASN Komcad on Friday morning. However, the activity was claimed to be unrelated to securing the student demonstration that took place on the same day. Rico stated that the standby muster was part of a readiness test for Komcad members following training. “The activity was part of a post-training readiness test and development for reserve component members that had been planned beforehand,” Rico said on Saturday, 13 June 2026.
In a separate occasion, Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform Rini Widyantini stated that her ministry never issued an instruction to deploy ASN Komcad. “The Ministry of PANRB did not issue an instruction to deploy Komcad and is not in a position to assess the technical aspects of security or defence,” Rini said in a statement to Tempo on Saturday, 13 June 2026. She said her ministry’s role regarding ASN Komcad is limited to management policy aspects. She stated that the mobilisation of reserve forces is intended for state defence interests, carried out through a presidential decision with the approval of the House of Representatives.
Furthermore, Rini said that fundamentally, the management of Komcad members, from training, appointment, organisation, to deployment mechanisms, falls entirely under the authority of the Ministry of Defence. She said this provision is regulated in Law Number 23 of 2019 concerning the Management of National Resources for State Defence. “Our concern is to ensure that the participation of civil servants in any programme does not disrupt performance, neutrality, professionalism, or the continuity of public services,” she said.