TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Seven University of Indonesia (UI) Law students filed a judicial review regarding the revision of Law Number 34 of 2004 concerning the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI Law) to the Constitutional Court. The petitioners' attorney, Abu Rizal Biladina, stated that the lawsuit was filed due to the unconstitutional formation process.

"The formation process was very strange and rushed," said Abu Rizal at the Constitutional Court building on Friday, March 21, 2025.

Abu Rizal said that the peculiarity could be seen in how the House of Representatives disregarded the procedures for law formation and drafting.

According to him, the Law on Legislative Formation (P3) regulates the observance of the principles applicable to legislative formation. These principles include transparency, which in this case, was not respected by the House when discussing the TNI Law.

"The House did not provide or publish academic texts before this bill was passed, so it is clear that this is a form of violation," said Abu Rizal.

The lawsuit is registered on the Constitutional Court website with Case Number 48/PUU/PAN.MK/AP3/03/2025.

Yesterday, amidst the wave of rejection, the plenary session of the 15th session of the House in the II Session of 2024-2025 approved the TNI Bill revision to become law.

House Speaker Puan Maharani said that the discussion of the TNI Law revision only focused on three substances, the provisions on Military Operations Other Than War in Article 7; the placement of active soldiers in civilian positions in Article 47; and the retirement age limit in Article 53.

In Article 7, Puan said the duties are expanded from 14 to 16. These two additional duties include assistance in combating cyber threats and the rescue of citizens, as well as national interests abroad. Meanwhile, in Article 47, there was also an addition of civil position posts that active TNI soldiers could occupy. In the previous TNI Law, active soldiers were only allowed to hold civilian positions in 10 ministries or institutions.

However, in the TNI Law revision, the House approved the government's proposal to add 4 new position posts. "Based on the requests and needs of ministry and institution leaders," said Puan in the plenary session.

Furthermore, Article 53, which regulates the retirement age of soldiers, was changed from a maximum of 53 years for non-commissioned and warrant officers, and 58 years for high-ranking officers to a maximum of 55 years for non-commissioned and warrant officers, and 62 years for high-ranking officers with the rank of three stars. "Together with the government, we emphasize that the changes to the TNI Law remain based on democratic values, civilian supremacy, human rights, and national legal provisions," said the PDIP politician.

The discussion of the TNI Law revision has been controversial since President Joko Widodo era. In addition, since it was continued by the House in 2024-2029, the civil society coalition opposed several articles of the revised TNI Law. The changes to the articles in the law are considered to restore the dual function of the military, which disrupts democracy.

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