The military will begin manufacturing medicines for public distribution under a new agreement, officials said on Tuesday, in the latest expansion of the armed forces’
role in civilian affairs since President Prabowo Subianto took office.
The President, a former defense minister and special forces commander, has expanded the powerful military’s role in civic affairs since taking office last year – including running much of his flagship project to serve free school meals. In March,
the House of Representatives, dominated by Prabowo’s coalition,
also passed a revision to military law that allows more civilian posts to be occupied by soldiers, sparking protests by student and activist groups. The moves have dismantled some of the safeguards put in place after
authoritarian president Suharto was overthrown in 1998 and raised fears of a return to an era when the armed forces were allowed to crush dissent and dominate public life. Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin late on
Tuesday signed an agreement with the food and drug
agency for laboratories operated by the army, navy, and air force, which previously supplied medicines for soldiers, to begin manufacturing drugs for public use.
