Indonesia’s Parliament on Thursday unanimously passed a controversial overhaul of a law that will allocate more civilian posts for military officers, defying student protests and raising fears of the erosion of freedoms in the world’s third-largest democracy.

       The revisions were proposed by allies of President Prabowo Subianto, a feared former general who served under the dictator Suharto. The move sets up a potential showdown between the government and critics, who have warned for weeks that the amendments evoke Indonesia’s authoritarian past.

       Mr. Prabowo won a landslide election victory last year with the backing of his predecessor, Joko Widodo. His ascent to power and his human rights record revived fears of the future of one of the world’s most vibrant democracies. In the late 1990s, he was discharged from the army after he was found responsible for the kidnapping of political dissidents.

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