A number of academics and researchers emphasized the urgency of safeguarding military professionalism amid strengthening ties between defense, business, and political sectors. In a public discussion titled 'Military, Business, and Politics: Lessons from Military Coups in Various Countries' held in Central Jakarta, experts highlighted a shifting pattern of threats to civilian sovereignty in Indonesia.
Head of Laboratorium Indonesia 2045 (LAB 45), Jaleswari Pramodhawardani, stated that the narrative regarding potential conventional military coups is no longer relevant to Indonesia's contemporary situation. Instead, she highlighted the phenomenon of 'state capture', a condition in which specific interest groups attempt to control state policies through seemingly legitimate constitutional channels.
Jaleswari underlined that the real threat currently arises through stable legal instruments. She specifically referred to the passage of Police Law No. 5/2026 and the revision of the TNI (Military) Law No. 3/2025. According to her, these regulations provide loopholes for active military personnel to hold positions in the civilian sector and bureaucracy, which is feared could harm the professionalism of defense institutions.
This phenomenon is seen as a form of normalization of military involvement in the government sphere, which has the potential to create overlapping interests. Researchers stressed the importance of maintaining strict boundaries between the role of national defense and involvement in practical policymaking to safeguard long-term democratic integrity.
