Indonesia Suspends Military Cooperation With Australia
09:49 04.01.2017(updated 09:57 04.01.2017)
Indonesia has suspended all military cooperation with Australia over unresolved technical matters, according to an Indonesian military spokesman.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The suspension is effective immediately as there are "ups and downs in every cooperation between two national forces," Maj. Gen. Wuryanto told Australia's ABC News channel.
The specific reasons for the suspension were not given, while Indonesia's Kompas newspaper reported that the decision followed an incident at an Australian Special Air Service Regiment base in Perth. An instructor from the Indonesian Kopassus special forces group, engaged in joint training with Australian special forces, reportedly felt insulted by materials allegedly ridiculing the Indonesian military found at the base.
The material was found to be of demeaning nature against the principles of Pancasila, the Indonesian state's founding philosophy. During an earlier incident, Indonesian special forces members were allegedly taught lessons during which the Indonesian military was also demeaned.
The length of the suspension has not been specified. The move comes just a month before joint Indonesian-Australian joint navy drills. Australian military officials reportedly said it was uncertain whether the exercises will proceed in February.
The Kopassus unit has been training at the base in Perth for several years. Bilateral military cooperation has been improving since the 2006 Lombok Treaty, after which both sides committed to defense and counterterrorism cooperation. Relations somewhat soured in 2013, when documents revealed by Edward Snowden indicated that Australia was tapping Indonesia's then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's phone conversations.
© Sputnik
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