Headquarters Jakarta Active personnel 500,000 persons | Reaching military
age annually (2008 est.) Reserve personnel 400,000 persons | |
 | ||
Founded 5 October 1945 (as Badan Keamanan Rakyat) Service branches TNI AD (Army)
TNI AL (Navy)
TNI AU (Air Force) | ||
The Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) uses a simplified ranking system for the three branches of Indonesian Army, Indonesian Navy and Indonesian Air Force. Most of the ranks are similar with differences for the rank titles of the high-ranking officers. Exception exists, however, in the ranks of the service members of the Indonesian Marine Corps. While Indonesian Marine Corps is a branch of the Navy, the rank titles of the Marine Corps are the same as those of the Army, but it still uses the Navy's style insignia (for lower-ranking enlisted men, blue are replacing the red colour).
Contents
- Tentara Keamanan Rakyat and Tentara Nasional Indonesia before 1957
- TNI 1957 73
- Tentara Nasional Indonesia today
- References
As said above, all services maintain the same rank insignia and title, with the main difference for officers are that high-ranking officers use their special titles, while officers below that rank use the similar title but followed by their respective branch/corps abbreviation. For example, an Army colonel with Infantry branch use the title "Kolonel INF.", which "INF" means "Infanteri" or "Infantry"; A Navy colonel with Supply Corps background use the title "Kolonel Laut (S)", in which "S" means "Suplai" or "Supply". Also, an Air Force Colonel with Electronical Engineering Corps background use the title "Kolonel (Lek)", in which "Lek" means "Elektronika" or "Electronics". There are no differences with enlisted personnel's title for Army and Air Force, but the Navy still use the personnel's branch/corps abbreviation behind the title.
High-ranking officers use gold stars as their insignia, middle-rank officers use gold jasmine buds and lower-rank officer use gold bars. High-rank NCOs use wavy bars, NCOs use yellow chevrons, high-rank enlisted men use red chevrons (blue for Navy and Marine Corps) and lower-rank enlisted men use red bars (blue for Navy and Marine Corps).
Tentara Keamanan Rakyat and Tentara Nasional Indonesia before 1957
The following ranks were used at the beginning of the establishment of Tentara Keamanan Rakyat (TKR, People's Security Forces)in 1946, before the current Indonesian National Armed Forces were officially formed. This first rank system, with insignia following Japanese practice, where used until 1957.
The TKR's Ground, Air and Naval Forces, later the Indonesian Army, Air Force, and Navy, used these ranks. (The same Army ranks were also used by the nascent Indonesian Marine Corps.)
TNI 1957-73
The rank system was updated by yet another General Orders on 22 June 1957. The Army and Marines received the Brigadier General rank, the Navy flag officer ranks were replaced by new ones (Admiral, Vice Admiral, Rear Admiral and Commodore replacing Admiral 1st Class, Admiral 2nd Class and Admiral 3rd Class) and the Air Force updated its air marshals' rank system. The ranks remained Army-style in the Army and Navy (including Marines) and army-style ranks were formally introduced into the air force. NCOs and Enlisted ranks and ratings became different per service branch.
Tentara Nasional Indonesia today
The ranks and rank insignia used today come from the Armed Forces rank regulations of 1990 and 1997, themselves revisions of the first rank regulations published in 1973 to use the current system. The rank insignia were differentiated only by the background color of the shoulder board and by gold (command) or red (staff) piping at the sides of the boards. All three branches have the same rank titles at the same paygrades, except for the Perwira Tinggi (General Officers, Flag Officers, and Air Officers) and the Tamtama (Lower Rank Enlisted) of the Navy.
From 1973 to 1990, the rank of Senior warrant officer (Calon Perwira) was used and was the highest rank for all warrant officers during that time. The enlisted ranks then were as follows: