Indonesian military says cooperation with Australian military suspended
JAKARTA: Indonesia suspended cooperation with the Australian military in December for ‘technical reasons’, a spokesman for the Indonesian defence forces said on Wednesday, after offensive material was seen at an Australian training base.
The suspension is the latest in a string of spats between the sometimes uneasy Asia- Pacific neighbours, who have important military ties ranging from counterterrorism cooperation to border protection.
“All forms of cooperation have been suspended,” Indonesian military spokesman Major General Wuryanto said. He said a broad range of activities would be affected.
“There are technical matters that need to be discussed,” Wuryanto said. Among these issues was offensive training material seen at an Australian military base.
It was ‘highly likely’ cooperation would resume once those issues were resolved, Wuryanto said.
Australia stopped conducting joint training exercises with Indonesian special forces, known as Kopassus, after accusations of abuses by the unit in East Timor in 1999 in the lead-up to the former Indonesian territory’s independence.
Jakarta and Canberra have since resumed military ties, citing a desire to cooperate on counterterrorism that became imperative after the bombing of two nightclubs on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
With ties gradually warming again, the first joint training exercise on Australian soil since 1995 was staged in the northern city of Darwin in September last year.
According to a report in Indonesian newspaper Kompas yesterday, the Indonesian military sent a letter to their Australian counterparts warning that cooperation could be suspended and then the head of the country’s military, Gatot Nurmantyo, sent a telegram putting this into force on Dec 29. — Reuters