ABSTRAK
The establishment of state-sponsored militia has raised concerns of human rights violations in non-international armed conflict in Indonesia. Most of the state-sponsored militia have been formed and tacitly supported by the Indonesian National Defense Forces (Tentara Nasional Indonesia) mostly based on the implementation of a concept called the Total Peoples Defense and Security System (sistem pertahanan rakyat semesta-sishankamrata­). The Total Peoples Defense and Security System is the grand strategy adopted based on Indonesias experience during Indonesias physical revolution or armed struggle for independence (1945-1949) and recognized under the Second Amendment to the 1945 Constitution. This article will elaborate on, first, the constitutional history and ideology of total peoples defense which contributes to the political ideology of the military and its relations with the existence of militia groups; and second, the active encouragement of militia abuses by the Indonesian military as part of a campaign to maintain control of regions seeking independence, along with the constraints imposed by the military itself on the manner in which it conducts such campaign.