On March 20, 2025, Indonesia’s Parliament approved revisions to their Indonesian National Military (TNI) Law No. 34/2004, raising concerns for civilians across the country. President Prabowo Subianto has described the revision’s purpose as raising the retirement age so rapid changes within the organization are avoided. However, the law’s revisions also signify changes in military personnel’s ability to be appointed to civilian positions and ability to assist in cyber defense threats and national and civilian interests, expanding military power. These revisions have sparked fear, influencing a wave of protests from civilians who fear Indonesia will return to the dual-function military dictatorship it was under from 1967 to 1998 after years of improving democracy. By enabling the military personnel to civilian posts and providing a lack of transparency to the public, Subianto is using stealth authoritarianism to disguise his consolidation of power. Subianto’s tactics undermine partisan alternation, introducing Indonesia to the threat of a weakened democracy.

When military dictator General Haji Mohammad Suharto assumed power in 1967 and was elected president in 1968, he abused his power and created an authoritarian regime through the expansion of forces of shared values, eroding democracy within the country. Through the dual-function military under Suharto, the doctrine permitted the military in defense and civilian positions, encompassing government and political institutions with his supporters, making it hard for the then-incumbent to be removed from power. However, when Suharto resigned in 1998, Indonesia was making progress in restoring democracy. But now, with President Subianto’s revisions to TNI, he is able to cloak his repressive measures in a form of stealth authoritarianism, using institutions and avoiding accountability as mechanisms, following the path of one of his predecessors, Suharto. The most concerning revision – which has been absent since Suharto’s resignation in 1998 – gives the ability for military personnel to hold positions in up to 14 civilian posts, rather than the originally established 10. The approach to this revision’s announcement lacked transparency, excluding public participation, which eventually influenced mass protests.

  According to Varol, stealth authoritarianism refers to nondemocratic mechanisms that are disguised with democratic and legal efforts. In order for a democracy to function effectively, a turnover of power within the government needs to be possible, yet if the government is upheld with an alarming number of military personnel, partisan alternation is impossible. In this case, it is likely for Indonesia to turn into a political monopoly. For example, Cabinet Secretary, Teddy Indra Wijaya, an aide to Subianto since 2019, was promoted from Major to Lieutenant Colonel. The practice of recognition and awarding supporters of Subianto is a form of corruption that allows individuals with similar ideologies to political elites to hold stronger positions, further empowering the incumbent and making it harder in the future to unseat them. Subianto’s exercise of power goes beyond checks and balances and slowly expands his power to other institutions that shouldn’t be under his control. 

Robert Dahl believes that free, fair, and competitive elections; universal adult suffrage; protections of civil liberties; and the absence of unelected tutelary institutions that are capable of constraining elected leaders are key components that define procedural democracy. Yet, it is nearly impossible to uphold a majority of these four fundamental principles of democratic legitimacy because citizens are surrounded by authority figures who all share similar ideologies as the president. Not only does this exercise corruption within the playing field that disrupts free, fair, and competitive elections, but it also disrupts the avoidance of unelected tutelary institutions’ involvement in the political landscape, and it also emerges fear and outrage across the country. This fear and outrage eventually may lead to restrictions on the protections of civil liberties and universal suffrage, dismantling the proper procedures of delivering a democracy. Although Subianto acknowledges public concern about this revision relating to how Suharto ruled, claiming it’s nothing like the military with a dual function, Indonesia is at a pivotal moment where democracy is undermined one law at a time.