Indonesian Army - Military Area Commands

Military Area Commands

The Armed Forces' military districts were created by General Soedirman, following the model of the German Wehrkreise system. The system was later ratified in Surat Perintah Siasat No.1, signed by General Soedirman in November 1948.

From 1946 to 1952, the Army had been organised into numerous divisions. These were consolidated in 1951, and then eliminated in 1952. From 1952 to 1958-59, the Army was organised into seven Tentara & Teritoriums. In August 1958, the Indonesian Army reorganised its territorial commands. There were to be sixteen Kodams from that point in time, which retained earlier divisional titles; the Siliwangi Division, for example, became Kodam VI/Siliwangi.

A reorganization in 1985 made significant changes in the army chain of command. The four multiservice Regional Defense Commands (Kowilhans) and the National Strategic Command (Kostranas) were eliminated from the defense structure, re-establishing the Military Area Command (Kodam), or regional command, as the key organization for strategic, tactical, and territorial operations for all services. The chain of command flowed directly from the ABRI commander in chief to the ten Kodam commanders, and then to subordinate army territorial commands.

The Kodams incorporate provincial and district commands each with a number of infantry battalions, sometimes a cavalry battalion, artillery, or engineers. Some have Raider battalions attached. Currently there are 12 Military Area Commands, and these are:

• Kodam Iskandar Muda, overseeing Aceh province as part of the Aceh special autonomy law. Previously under the Kodam I/Bukit Barisan.
• Kodam I/Bukit Barisan, overseeing northern Sumatra provinces of North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau and Riau Islands.
  • In 1997, before the split of Kodam I into Kodam I and Kodam Iskandar Muda, territorial military district commands included Korem 011 (HQ Lhokseumawe), Korem 012 (HQ Banda Aceh), Korem 022 (HQ Pematang Siantar), Korem 023 (HQ Sibolga), Korem 031 (HQ Pekanbaru), and Korem 032 (HQ Padang).
• Kodam II/Sriwijaya, overseeing southern provinces on Sumatra island of Jambi, Bengkulu, Bangka Belitung, South Sumatra and Lampung.
  • Korems in 1997 included Korem 041 (HQ Palembang), Korem 042 (HQ Jambi), Korem 043 (HQ Lampung), and Korem 044 (HQ Serong).
• Kodam Jaya, overseeing Jakarta as the capital city of Indonesia. Kodam Jaya also oversees three regions outside Jakarta of Bekasi and Depok which actually in West Java province and Tangerang which is in Banten province.
• Kodam III/Siliwangi, overseeing West Java and Banten provinces.
• Kodam IV/Diponegoro, overseeing Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces.
• Kodam V/Brawijaya, overseeing East Java province.
• Kodam VI/Tanjungpura, overseeing all provinces on Kalimantan island (Borneo) of Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, South Kalimantan and West Kalimantan.
• Kodam VII/Wirabuana, overseeing all provinces on Sulawesi island of Gorontalo, Central Sulawesi, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi and West Sulawesi.
  • Units include Batalyon Infanteri 714
• Kodam IX/Udayana, overseeing provinces of Bali, East Nusa Tenggara and West Nusa Tenggara. The former Indonesian province of East Timor was also under the jurisdiction of Kodam IX/Udayana.
• Kodam XVI/Pattimura, overseeing Maluku and North Maluku provinces.
• Kodam XVII/Cendrawasih, overseeing West Papua and Papua provinces.
• Previously Irian Jaya and the Maluku islands were under Kodam VIII/Trikora. Kodam VIII/Trikora had in 1997 six infantry battalions plus engineer detachments. The district commands in 1997 included Korem 171 (HQ Manokwari), Korem 172 (HQ Abepura), Korem 173 (HQ Biak) and Korem 174 (HQ Ambon). The South Pacific Yearbook reported three infantry battalions which were based at Manokwari, Jayapura, and Sorong, as well as mentioning a naval base at Biak.
• On June 8, 2012, the Indonesian Police told AFP that one person was killed and 17 wounded when Indonesian soldiers opened fire on civilians after a deadly dispute sparked by a road accident in Papua province. The shootings took place late on June 7, 2012, after residents, angry that two soldiers on a motorcycle hit and injured a child, stabbed one of the troops to death and seriously injured the other in Wamena: "Following the road accident soldiers.. arrived in two trucks and took revenge by firing gunshots toward local residents and setting a number of houses on fire," national police spokesman Saud Usman Nasution said. "The trouble then spread to the city centre where a number of shops and houses were also damaged by gunshots," he told AFP.