Indonesia suspends military cooperation with Australia over offensive special forces training material

Indonesia has suspended all military cooperation with Australia, reportedly over offensive materials displayed at an Australian military base where its troops were training. The offensive “laminated material” shown at a base was insulting towards Indonesia’s five founding principles – Pancasila – Indonesian newspaper Kompas has reported. The Kompas report says a cable dated December 29, sent by Indonesian military commander general Gatot Nurmantyo, instructed that all military cooperation, including training with the Australian Defence Force, be suspended. Indonesian military spokesman brigadier general Wuryanto has confirmed the split, but would not specifically confirm the reason, saying cooperation between the Australian and Indonesian militaries has been suspended for “technical reasons”, effective immediately. “All forms of cooperation have been suspended,” he said. But Wuryanto suggested the suspension would not be long-term, saying cooperation could resume once the “technical matters” were resolved. “There are technical matters that need to be discussed,” Wuryanto said, including the offensive training material seen at an Australian military base. It was “highly likely” cooperation would resume once those issues were resolved, he said. Kompas reported that an instructor from Indonesia’s special forces group Kopassus felt insulted by material on display at a training base. The nature of the offensive material on display has not been officially disclosed, but it is understood to have been demeaning towards the Indonesian military. When meeting the academy’s headmaster to file a protest over the materials, the trainer found another “laminated document”, with contents that insult Indonesia’s state ideology Pancasila that is based on the principles of consultative democracy, social justice, humanitarianism, the unity of Indonesia, and devotion to a single God. A source told Fairfax Media that some of the offending materials, if true, appeared to be truly insulting while others seemed to be scholarly critical assessments of the Indonesian military’s past behaviour in 1965 or the East Timor invasion. According to a Whatsapp circular, the Kopassus Indonesian language trainer heard offensive material in class including that the late Indonesian military leader Sarwo Edhie Wibowo was a mass murderer and that a TNI police officer murdered his friend while drunk. He also reportedly saw a laminated piece of paper which said “PANCAGILA”, an offensive mockery of Pancasila, which basically translates as “five crazy principles”. “After he returned to Indonesia, he immediately made a report,” the Whatsapp circular says. Australia’s defence minister, Marise Payne, said the Australian military hoped to restore full cooperation with the Indonesian armed forces as soon as possible. She confirmed that late last year an Indonesian officer had raised concerns “about some teaching materials and remarks at an army language training facility in Australia”. “The Australian Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, wrote to his Indonesian counterpart, General Gatot Nurmantyo, giving an undertaking that this matter would be addressed seriously and we would inquire into issues raised. “The Australian Army has looked into the serious concerns that were raised and the investigation into the incident is being finalised.” The Australian Army has looked into the serious concerns that were raised and the investigation into the incident is being finalised Australia’s defence minister Marise Payne Kopassus has trained for several years with Australia’s Special Air Service troops at the SAS base at Campbell Barracks, Perth. No time limit has been put on the suspension, and it is unclear whether future planned joint training exercises between the two countries will be affected. Indonesia and Australia’s military relationship has improved in recent years, after an at-times troubled history. The Lombok Treaty commits both countries to cooperation in the fields of defence, combating transnational crime, counter-terrorism and intelligence-sharing. Australia has sold military hardware to Indonesia and defence and foreign ministers meet regularly. However, relations were shaken in 2013 when it was revealed the Australian Signals Directorate attempted to monitor the phone calls of then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and senior officials. In 1999, Indonesia annulled a 1995 security pact with Australia after the latter led a peacekeeping force to East Timor to restore order after violence broke out in the then-Indonesian province following a referendum for independence. Relations eased back to normal following bombing attacks on the Indonesian resort island of Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. The Australian Federal Police offered assistance to the Indonesian police and a special counterterrorism unit, named Detachment 88 after the number of Australians killed in the attacks, was set up. Additional reporting by Kyodo and Fairfax Media

Indonesia suspends military cooperation with Australia over offensive special forces training material

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Instructor from Indonesia’s special forces found training materials he thought were disrespectful towards his country at exchange programme

Instructor from Indonesia’s special forces found training materials he thought were disrespectful towards his country at exchange programme