RRI was established on 11 September 1945 by several figures who previously operated several Japanese radio stations in 6 cities.

A meeting attended by the station delegates at Adang Kadarusman house on Menteng resulted in the decision to set up Radio Republik Indonesia by choosing Abdul Rahman Saleh as the first general manager.

However, during the New Order era, upon the requests of the Ministry of Information, RRI-produced news programs were aired simulcast on all radio stations.

32 of 2002 on Broadcasting, which defined as a "legal entity established by the state; has independent, neutral, not commercial (characteristics); and has the function to provide services for the public benefit".

12 of 2005, is "to provide the healthy information, education and entertainment services, (maintain) social control and unity, and preserve the nation's culture for the whole public benefit by organizing radio broadcast that reaches all parts of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia".

[citation needed] In general, RRI offers a maximum of four main stations in a region (availability are vary, see below), one of them is a national simulcast.

This conflict began when there was a handover report (BAST) of state property in the form of land from LPP RRI to Ministry of Religion of Indonesia (Kemenag) Number 774/DU/05/2017 dated 9 May 2017, in where LPP RRI handed over a plot of land in Cimanggis, Depok, West Java covering an area of 1,425,889 square metres (more than 142 hectares) to the Ministry of Religion for the establishment of International Islamic University of Indonesia (UIII).

In accordance with article 6 of BAST, to ensure the continuity of RRI's broadcast operations, the second party (namely the Ministry of Religious Affairs) must move or construct buildings, structures and other equipment and infrastructure in stages in new places.

However, in practice, when the transfer or development had not yet been carried out, the process of building UIII in Cimanggis had already begun; which resulted in damage to the RRI short wave transmitter "fider line" which has been ongoing since the end of last year.

[12] Rohanudin was accused by some parties on behalf of RRI employees of having a "bad track record" during his tenure, including allegations of nepotism, mismanagement and abuse of authority.

Apart from that, Sapta Pratala's research assesses that rri.co.id is biased by reporting more comments rejecting the dissolution of Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) after the government disbanded the organization on 30 December 2020.

On 13 May, Deputy Secretary General of the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) Satia Chandra Wiguna asked First Commission of the People's Representative Council to fire Rohanudin because he was deemed "contrary to RRI's ideal position as neutral news agency" and "defending intolerant people",[15] even though according to Act Number 32 of 2002 the DPR does not have the right to dismiss the RRI Board of Directors.

[13] The accusations that emerged and the steps taken by the supervisory board were criticized by Esa Unggul University political communications expert Jamiluddin Ritonga.

RRI, according to Ritonga, must "protect all elements of society" and "should not be like during the New Order era, which was clearly a mouthpiece for the government".