Imparsial: Appointing Active Soldiers for Civil Posts Breaches TNI Law

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The deputy director of the non-governmental organization Imparsial, Hussein Ahmad, said putting active military personnel in civil posts violates Article 47, paragraph 1 of the Law.

The article mentions that military personnel are only allowed to hold civilian positions once they retire.

"Putting members of the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) in civil posts is strictly regulated under Article 47 of TNI Law, which requires them to step down first," said Hussein when contacted by Tempo through a messaging application on Tuesday, February 11, 2025.

He stated that the current government under Prabowo Subianto has violated the law by allowing active soldiers to hold civilian posts for the sake of national interests.

The Imparsial chief highlighted Major Teddy Indra Wijaya’s appointment as the Cabinet Secretary under , as well as Major General Novi Helmy Prasetya as the President Director of Perum Bulog.

Both of their designations, he said, breached existing regulations due to their status as active military personnel.

“Does the law authorize this? No, definitely not,” said Hussein.

Major General Novi Helmy was appointed the head of state-owned food distribution company, Bulog, to replace Wahyu Suparyono, who had only been in office for five months. This appointment is based on ministerial decree number SK-30/MBU/02/2025 dated February 7, 2025.

Novi himself confirmed that he’s still an active TNI personnel. “Yes, I’m still an active soldier,” he said, referring to his status within the military after a meeting on rice absorption evaluation at the Ministry of Agriculture on Sunday, February 9.

Meanwhile, Major Teddy’s status as active TNI personnel was confirmed by the Head of Information Service of the Indonesian Army, Brigadier General Wahyu Yudhayana.

Wahyu said Teddy can hold the post as Cabinet Secretary as it is under the command of the Ministry of State Secretariat. “The position is not at the ministerial level,” he said last year.

Novali Panji Nugroho contributed to the writing of this article.

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