Indonesia, Malaysia Sign Defense Cooperation Pact

Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto and his Malaysian counterpart, Dato’ Seri Hishamuddin bin Tun Hussein, signed an MoU on Tuesday to strengthen cooperation in the defense sector.

The MoU was inked on the sidelines of the 42nd Session of the Malaysia-Indonesia General Border Committee (GBC Malindo) in Kuala Lumpur.

“I support the cooperation to strengthen relations with Malaysia. Malaysia and Indonesia have a special relationship,” Subianto said in a statement.

The cooperation will cover periodic bilateral dialogues and consultations on strategic issues related to defense and military as a common interest. The two countries will also share strategic information in the defense sector through symposiums, seminars, and study visits.

Military cooperation will also be strengthened between the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) and the Malaysian armed forces in various fields.

Under the MoU, Indonesia and Malaysia will exchange personnel, conduct education and training, provide logistical support, pursue cooperation in defense science and technology, defense industry, and other forms of defense cooperation.

A number of important agendas were discussed during the session, including reports on joint progress in the fields of operations and non-operations. The operations field includes intelligence, land, sea, air, maritime, communications, electronics, search and rescue, and police operations.

Meanwhile, the non-operations field consists of the construction of cross-border posts, the exchange of trainers and the conduct of joint military exercises between the two countries, as well as the formulation of an agreement to add a joint post to improve coordination between the two countries.