Indonesian Military/Government

The October 1965 appointment of Suharto to a caretaker role as commander of ABRI began an increasing political role for ABRI. The level of repression against Muslim political parties even influenced law changes regarding marriage. This link between ABRI and industry is another example of the dual function structure that ABRI used to control Indonesia. This direct ABRI representation continued into the Suharto era, including numerous senior military officers holding ministerial positions within the Suharto government. This discontent was heightened as the ABRI also struggled to suppress regional separatism and continue Jakarta’s central control.

From Surkarno’s rule and the brutal repression of the PKI, ABRI’s repressive role increased significantly following the declaration of martial law. This established a joint civilian military framework, which would intertwine ABRI with all levels and sectors of Indonesian society. In that the military has a formal position of influence instead of a voting ability of individual members of the military. An example of this was the deployment of 12000 troops into the Aceh province . When economic conditions worsened the level of corruption became hard to ignore and this increased the level of criticism concerning the ABRI’s political and economic influence. The response from Jakarta was to unleash ABRI in a brutal fashion when suppressing regional separatists. The economic impact on regional separatism also was a factor in ABRI’s and Jakarta’s desire for suppression. Maintaining stability though was the Indonesian military’s primary mission and the only tool that the increasingly unstable Suharto presidency could depend upon. Between the BAKIN and the KOPKAMTIB the ABRI had legal authority over both military and civilian security matters. The political implication for Indonesia was that “for all practical purposes during the initial period of the New Order, national leadership was identical with army leadership” .