ABSTRACT

This chapter concludes our discussion on the development of military operations other than war (MOOTW) and its relations with territorial commands in post-authoritarian Indonesia. It presents main findings and contributions of the research on civil–military relations and security sector reform studies. Even though the internationalization of military activities – via the participation in United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) missions abroad, and the adoption of regional principles on counter-terrorism – has been expected to encourage military professionalism, the Indonesian case demonstrates that such activities do not mean that the military (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, TNI) has given up politics of preserving institutional privileges gained during Suharto’s authoritarianism. In contrast with prior strategies of violence and coercion, the military prevalently politicizes the MOOTW to re-legitimize the raison d’être of territorial commands. This should be assessed as “the new style of military politics” of preserving TNI’s vested interests in contemporary Indonesia.