Since being inaugurated as president last year, Prabowo, a former special forces commander, has expanded the role of the military, including using soldiers to deliver his flagship free school meals project and to manufacture medicines for public use.

The battalions, consisting of thousands of soldiers, will be installed across Indonesia to work on agriculture and health projects, especially in remote areas, army spokesman brigadier general Wahyu Yudhayana told Reuters.

“Our roles are as the enablers, to fill the gap when the projects are not delivered due to certain limitations or problems,” Yudhayana said.

Indonesia passed a change to legislation in March that allows the military a bigger role in government, a move that has raised fears among rights groups of a return to authoritarianism.

Yudhayana said the battalions would work to make idle land productive, improve irrigation systems and increase food production.

Some have voiced concern that the military lacks farming expertise, but Yudhayana said the agriculture ministry would train the soldiers, equipping them with the required skills.

Made Supriatma, a visiting fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said it was the first time in its democratic era that Indonesia had set up military units dedicated to agriculture and farming.

Rather than enlist soldiers, the government should have improved agricultural productivity by empowering farmers, he argued.

“This is a serious threat to democracy because these people will create their own structure. The military will have more roles,” he said.