The Military Academy ( or ) is a service academy of the Indonesian Army, part of the Indonesian National Armed Forces Academy (). Founded on the early stages of the Indonesian Revolutionary War and located in the city of Magelang in Central Java, its alumni form a professional officer corps for the army, with all Indonesian Army Chiefs of Staff since 1988 having graduated from Akmil.
History
In October 1945, several months after the Indonesian declaration of independence, then-Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Armed Forces Oerip Soemohardjo ordered the establishment of a military academy, which was called the and was based in Yogyakarta. On the aftermath of a ceasefire with the Dutch armed forces in 1949, interest in the school dropped with only 9 cadets in Class 3 (1949 intake) compared to 200 in Class 2 (1946 intake), and the academy was closed in 1950 with remaining students sent to the Dutch . In the following years, several army officer schools would pop out in Indonesia.
Partly in effort to transform a regional, guerilla force into a professional, national military, the then Chief of Staff of the Army Abdul Haris Nasution established the National Military Academy (), which was officially opened on 11 November 1957 and included Mount Tidar in its premises within Magelang giving the academy its nickname of (Tidar Valley), modeled on the United States Military Academy. The first cadets to graduate from this new institution in 1960 was recognized as Class 4 and numbered 59 graduating officers. Soon in 1961, the Indonesian Army Military Technical Academy () based in Bandung was merged with the school and the cadets transferred to Magelang. Later, it was integrated with the Indonesian Naval Academy (), Air Force Academy () and the Police Academy () to form the Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia Academy (AKABRI) in 1965.
In 1984, reorganization of the armed forces resulted in the academy renamed to its current form, the Military Academy Magelang (). The Taruna Nusantara high school, established in 1990 by Akmil alumni Try Sutrisno and located just outside the military academy, was created in order to attract young talent to the academy.
On April 1, 1999, the National Police were officially separated from the other three forces. After the reformation and the removal of . Since then, the Police Academy has been separated from the AKABRI, leaving Military Academy, Naval Academy, and Air Force Academy within the structure. AKABRI later changed to .
Recent developments
Starting in 2011, graduates of the academy were awarded a bachelor's degree (in applied defence sciences, ) along with other academies in Akademi TNI. In 2017, the academy had its first female graduates, among a graduating class of 225 cadets.
Academics
Just like so many military academies in the world, the Indonesian Military Academy Magelang is a medium-sized, highly residential baccalaureate college, with a full-time, four-year undergraduate program that emphasizes instruction in the arts, sciences, and professions with a graduate program, preparing men and women to take on the challenge of being officers of the Indonesian Army. The academy is accredited by the Ministry of Education. Cadets who passed the initial selection process will first attend a 1-year basic program in the premises of the academy with students from the Air Force, Naval and Police academies, and remain there for the remainder of their studies.
Undergraduate program – academic
The academic program consists of a structured core of subjects depending on the cadet's chosen specialty as a future Army officer, balanced between the arts and sciences. Regardless of major, all cadets graduate with a Bachelor of Applied Defense Science degree.