The Importance of Defense Management Studies in Indonesia

The Importance of Defense Management Studies in Indonesia

By Sulaiman Sujono

Since the independence of Indonesia in 1945, Indonesian had faced a lot of challenge to its sovereignty both internal and external. The revolutionary wars from 1945-1949, some rebellion, the disintegration of East Timor, the GAM movement in Aceh, and the list will go on until the recent cases in 2010-2011. This, I believe, are the subject of the national defense because all of those are all a form of threat to the nation, and because of that the field of defense management are an important field of studies to be studied by Indonesian.

The earliest form of institution that specialized in defense studies in any form are the LEMHANNAS (Lembaga Ketahanan Nasional) or the National Resilience Institute of The Republic of Indonesia. The institution focuses in teaching the complete spectrum of national defense. The earlier version of LEMHANNAS is exclusive to the military officers, as can be seen in the Alumnae Directory own by its graduates, as shown to me by Major General (ret.) Sukardjo, one of the LEMHANNAS alumnae of 1994 (KRA XXVII). But in their development LEMHANNAS open itself up to be made available to civilian. In the discussion I have with him, he stated that the spectrum of national defense is really not an exclusive subject of the military, instead it should be understand by any citizen in general, especially those in the decision making posts, the parliamentary members, and people that works in the public sectors such as the media. In terms of the parliamentary members, he support the idea that the TNI and POLRI, Indonesia’s army and police branch should be represented in the parliament because at the time they are the organs that understand the most the need and importance of national defense in every spectrum.

There is a doctrine of national defense that are already incorporated in Indonesia educational system, the doctrine of Astagatra, the National Resilience doctrine of Indonesia. The doctrine

...