Could you explain to me of Indonesian army structure and how it works? I'm pretty ignorant and clueless on this field.
Basically:
Commander in Chief = Presiden
Commander of the Military = Panglima
Highest ranking commander of each branch =
Kepala Staf
The "
staf" part here is often not understood well. This staff system goes back to the 1700s when the Austrians realized that the commander of army units, has to do a lot of thinking in regard to army command and organization and that even before commencing battle itself (which is very complex). Commanders have to think about logistics, intelligence, personnel, etc, of course, this much burden makes relying solely on commanders alone is not advantageous within the context of the complexity of modern warfare.
That is why they came up with a military system that helps the commander deals with these grinding works. Hence the "general staff" system, which could both mean "general's staff" and "staffs doing general works". This system was then adopted and perfected by the French during Napoleon, and then famously, by the Germans during their series of wars in the 1860s-1870s. Then almost all militaries copied this system. TNI also makes use of this kind of arrangement, that the highest ranking of AD, AL, and AU, are members of the staff system, only below them are the field commanders. For example this is AD organization (sorry for the poor quality)
If you see the "unsur pembantu pimpinan", that's the basic general staff, while all others supports the basic functions further into "pelaksana pusat" (attached to general staff) that helps to coordinate and control the military, up to field commanders like Kodam and Kostrad (not general staff, though they have their own staff system). This stuff is essential to make a modern military, which is very complex, even barely functional. But if the personnel of the staff is competent, we can expect a well-led, well-equipped, and well-drilled army.
Just how independent are the field units to move around and engage enemies without having to ask the higher ups permission for every single thing?
Very decentralized in fact. Hence we have
komando structure with their Dan (Komandan) being not attached with the general staff but semi-autonomous. Of course, they must obey the Headquarters (Mabes) when it requires so, but day-to-day management and tactical consideration is up to the field commanders. Units from Kopassus, Kostrad, and Kodam (notice all are "komando), were often went rouge and headquarters might not know exactly what they are doing at all times. Hence "
pelaksana pusat" is important to maintain control i.e military police function, intelligence function.
It often goes backward that you expected: It is the Headquarters that struggle to control their underlings, rather than underlings having to ask permission for anything. That is why you see Panglima Andika recently has to investigate the matters with the KKB attack that killed 3 personnel due to negligence by the officers:
because the field officers have that much flexibility and decentralized command, that central command struggle to monitor them.
Do our army have heavy bureaucratic system?
Very bureaucratic. It poses a paradox that command is decentralized, but bureaucracy is centralized. I have had a Psikotes at a military psychology center, and oh boy the papers, loads of paper, also slow bureaucracy due to them answering directly to central command. But the thing is, while HQ determines the rules and details of the military bureaucracy system, still, it is the pelaksana who manages them on the ground. Hence why the commanders of regional commands and centers are able to sort of manipulate bureaucratic documents. Because whilst the matter regarding recruitment and promotion is centralized, the ones who manage all of these in the field are decentralized. So without proper monitoring and enforcement, only in theory that the military is heavily controlled by legal and bureaucratic rules. But in reality, rules and conduct are skewed in favor of the commanding officer's interest.
Though this is true for every military, especially the Army. That is why the US Army is also stereotypically very bureaucratic in system and personnel's attitude. Also, some fun fact is that, in Asia, the closest country that resembles Indonesia's military and police system, is China.