Indonesia Suspends Military Ties with Australia

Indonesia has suspended military cooperation with the Australian Defense Force (ADF) over training materials at a special forces base in Australia deemed offensive to Indonesians, authorities in Jakarta said Wednesday.

Officials with the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) did not go into detail about the offensive material that allegedly insulted Pancasila, Indonesia’s five founding principles.

According to news reports, a member of the Indonesian Special Forces Command serving as an instructor at an Australian army base in Perth, Western Australia, discovered the problematic training material and reported it to his superiors.

“One of the reasons is because of that (the training material),” Maj. Gen. Wuryanto, the chief spokesman for TNI, told BenarNews, when asked about the suspension.

“I cannot explain in more detail. It’s essentially a technical issue,” Wuryanto said. “Bilateral cooperation should be mutually beneficial and mutually respectful.”

The indefinite suspension in military cooperation covers education, exchange programs, joint exercises and reciprocal visits by military officials, he added.

The neighboring countries are partners in countering terrorism and have engaged for years in programs of bilateral military cooperation, but sometimes they have been embroiled in disagreements such as over Indonesia’s policy of executing convicted drug offenders.

When questioned about the suspension, Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said he would meet with his Australian counterpart in late January in Bogor, West Java, to discuss the issue.

According to Ryamizard, the ADF has disciplined an Australian lieutenant who served as an instructor at the army base and who gave lectures allegedly containing the offensive material.

“(He has) been reprimanded, punished,” Ryamizard said, as quoted by Kompas.com.

His Australian counterpart, Marise Payne, issued a statement saying that Australia was working to iron out the issue and mend defense relations with Indonesia.

“The Australian military sees this as a serious problem,” Defense Minister Payne said.

Full story: BenarNews

Arie Firdaus