JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s appointment of an army general to run the national food procurement company has raised concerns about the expansion of military roles under President Prabowo Subianto, with a rights activist saying it also violated military laws.Major General Novi Helmy Prasetya was named chief executive of Bulog, a powerful state logistics company in charge of government-controlled imports of rice and other important food staples, on the weekend, becoming the first active duty general in the role since the authoritarian regime of General Suharto.
Under military laws, soldiers are allowed to fill civilian posts only at state institutions in sectors such as defence, security, intelligence and disaster response. They are also not allowed to be involved in politics and business.
“This is a threat to democracy and a violation towards the law,” said Ardi Manto Adiputra, director of Indonesian rights group Imparsial, late on Monday.
The armed forces are subject to the military justice system, which is separate from the civilian criminal code, raising issues of oversight and transparency at any government institution run by active duty officers, Adiputra said.
State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir said the appointment was a strategic move towards achieving a goal of food self-sufficiency, according to state news agency Antara.
The SOE ministry and the presidential communication office did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The military law does not stipulate penalties for such a breach. However, the appointment can be appealed through a petition to the administrative court.
It follows other military appointments in civic works since Prabowo took office in October, a trend that has caused unease among some people as it raises comparisons to Suharto’s military-backed regime when the armed forces dominated public life.
Prabowo was a military commander under Suharto, his former father-in-law. Suharto was overthrown in 1998.
Sana Jaffrey, a research fellow at the Australian National University, noted Prabowo had appointed other active duty officers, such as his cabinet secretary and senior officials at the ministries of agriculture and transportation, which she said showed he trusted the military to help him meet his goals.”But he’s not willing to consider the long-term political consequences of placing active military officers in civilian roles, whether this is at odds with the law or what sort of institutional damage this might cause,” she said.
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia; Additional reporting by Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by John Mair)
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