Singapore and Indonesia to explore new military training facilities under defence cooperation

SINGAPORE: At the second Singapore-Indonesia leaders’ retreat at Istana Merdeka in Jakarta on July 6, one of the items discussed by Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto was the development of new training facilities in Indonesia.

At a joint press conference after the meeting, PM Wong said that he and President Prabowo agreed to strengthen the institutional links, pointing out that good relations between the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and their Indonesian counterparts, the Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI), foster trust.

He thanked President Prabowo for the key role he played in encouraging strong ties between both countries’ militaries during his tenure as Indonesia’s Defence Minister, a role the retired military officer occupied from 2019 to 2024.

“Under our defence cooperation agreement, the SAF and the TNI are exploring the co-development of training facilities in Batu Raja, West Kalimantan, and the Siabu Air Weapons Range (AWR). These initiatives will provide even more mutually beneficial opportunities for us to train together and deepen our long-standing defence relations,” said PM Wong.

According to a report from the Indonesian news agency Antara, PM Wong and President Prabowo also discussed the expansion of military cooperation at Batu Jajar in West Java.

There were 26 agreements in all stemming from the leaders’ retreat, which included government-to-government and business-to-business deals. One of those agreements was a Joint Update on Defence Cooperation signed by Chan Chun Sing, Singapore’s Defence Minister and Coordinating Minister for Public Services, and Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, Indonesia’s Defence Minister.

The Prime Minister also said during the press conference that Singapore will continue to support the development programmes of Indonesia in the areas of capacity building, including with healthcare and agricultural technology initiatives.

In a Facebook post, PM Wong thanked the Indonesian President for his commitment to deepen relations with Singapore, and added that he looked forward to close collaboration with him as Singapore and Indonesia celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations in 2027.

“We had good discussions on how to take our partnership forward, including in new areas like green energy, carbon credits, and the digital economy. These are promising areas where we can work together to create new opportunities for both our countries,” he wrote. /TISG

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