Indonesia\u2019s parliament on Thursday passed contentious revisions to the country\u2019s military law, which will allocate more civilian posts for military officers, and street protests against the changes are expected to take place. <\/p>\n
The revisions have been criticized by civil society groups, who say it could take the world\u2019s third-biggest democracy back to the draconian \u201cNew Order\u201d era of former strongman president Suharto, when military officers dominated civilian affairs. <\/p>\n
Speaker Puan Maharani led the unanimous vote in a plenary council and officially passed the law, saying that it was in accordance with the principle of democracy and human rights. <\/p>\n
President Prabowo Subianto, who took office last October and was a special forces commander under Suharto, has been expanding the armed forces\u2019 role into what were considered civilian areas, including his flagship program of free meals for children. <\/p>\n
Rights groups have criticized the increased military involvement because they fear it may lead to abuses of power, human rights violations, and impunity from consequences for actions. <\/p>\n
The government has said the bill requires officers to resign from the military before assuming civilian posts at departments such as the Attorney\u2019s General Office and a lawmaker has said officers could not join state-owned companies, to counter concerns the military would be involved in business. <\/p>\n
Protesters from several democracy groups and students have said they will stage rallies in front of the parliamentary building in Jakarta. <\/p>\n
Some students had camped at the back gate of parliamentary building since Wednesday evening, protesting the law and demanding the government pull out all military personnel from civilian jobs. <\/p>\n
Police officers forced them to leave the building but they refused, one protestor who declined to be named told Reuters. There were just a few dozen protesters at the time the bill was passed by parliament. <\/p>\n
Military personnel were called in for security in the parliamentary building to assist police. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe geopolitical changes and global military technology require the military to transform \u2026 to face conventional and non conventional conflicts,\u201d Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin told parliament, while defending the revised law. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe will never disappoint the Indonesians in keeping our sovereignty,\u201d he added, but did not specify what geopolitical challenges he was referring to. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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