Indonesia | Pakistan

Indonesia has received three Rafale fighter jets from France in the first deliveries from a multi-billion dollar defence deal between the two countries, a defence ministry official told Reuters on Monday, marking a major upgrade to the country’s ageing military hardware. Jakarta, France’s main arms client in Southeast Asia, has placed orders for as many as 42 Rafales, built by Dassault Aviation, as well as French frigates and submarines, as the archipelago steps up defence spending under President Prabowo Subianto, a former special forces commander. “The aircraft have been handed over and are ready for use by the Indonesian Air Force, Defence Ministry spokesperson Rico Ricardo Sirait said in a message in response to a Reuters query — the first confirmation that Indonesia has possession of the advanced military aircraft after striking an $8 billion deal with France in 2022 and expanding it last year. Sirait said the three aircraft arrived on Friday and were stationed at Roesmin Nurjadin Air Base in Pekanbaru, ...

Indonesian authorities resumed search-and-rescue efforts for 80 people missing after a landslide killed 10 in a residential area of West Java province. The landslide early on Saturday was triggered by heavy rains starting the day before, which the weather agency warned could continue for a week in the province and several other regions. Resident Dedi Kurniawan, 36, said it was the first big landslide he had witnessed in Pasir Langu village in a hilly area of the province about 100 km (60 miles) southeast of Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. “Sometimes we have only small floods from the nearest river, but this time (the landslide) came from the forest,” he told Reuters. Rescuers were hampered on Saturday as unstable terrain and rain hindered them from deploying heavy machinery, Kompas TV reported, citing authorities. There were multiple reports of floods in West Java, including Jakarta. The floods have caused residents in heavily impacted areas to evacuate to higher ground or unaffected places. The landslide occur...

ISLAMABAD - Lieutenant General Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin (Retd), Minister of Defence of the Republic of Indonesia, called on Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, NI (M), HJ, COAS & CDF, at General Headquarters (GHQ), Rawalpindi on Monday.

Indonesia has expressed its desire to further expand defence ties with Pakistan across multiple domains, the military’s media affairs wing said on Monday. The development came as Indonesian Defence Minister Lieutenant General (retd) Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin called on Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. “The meeting focused on matters of mutual interest, evolving regional and global security dynamics, and exploration of avenues for enhancing bilateral defence cooperation,” it said. “Both sides underscored the importance of strengthening institutional linkages, training collaboration and defence industrial cooperation between Pakistan and Indonesia,” it added. “The visiting dignitary lauded the professionalism of Pakistan’s armed forces and acknowledged their sacrifices in the fight against terrorism. He also expressed Indonesia’s desire to further expand defence ties with Pakistan ...

Indonesia seeks deeper bilateral defence ties

Indonesia has welcomed the arrival of the first giant panda born in the country, marking a significant milestone after years of efforts to breed the vulnerable species. The cub was born on Nov. 27 at the Taman Safari Indonesia wildlife park in Bogor, West Java, to giant panda pair Cai Tao and Hu Chun. Both pandas arrived in the park in 2017, under a 10-year joint research programme and as a symbol of the friendship between Indonesia and China. Taman Safari Indonesia’s Corporate Communication Manager Trully Erlynda said the birth is the culmination of a decade-long international collaboration. “We welcome the panda cub’s birth with gratitude and joy. It is a proud year-end milestone for Indonesia and a sign of advancing international conservation cooperation,” Trully said on Monday. In August, the veterinary team at Taman Safari Indonesia, working with the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) in Berlin, performed an artificial insemination procedure on giant pandas Cai Tao and Hu Chun in an ef...

Devastating floods and landslides have killed 1,003 people in Indonesia, rescuers said on Saturday as the Southeast Asian nation grapples with relief efforts. The disaster, which has hit the northwestern island of Sumatra over the past fortnight, has also injured more than 5,400, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said in its latest toll. The deadly torrential rains are one of the worst recent disasters to strike Sumatra, where a tsunami wreaked havoc in 2004 in Aceh province, which lies at the northern tip of the island. The final toll is expected to rise, with the disaster agency reporting 218 people are still missing. With vast tracts of territory hit, 1.2 million residents have been forced to take refuge in temporary shelters. Frustration has grown among flood victims, who have complained about the pace of relief efforts. President Prabowo Subianto said on Saturday the situation has improved, with several areas which had been cut off now accessible. “Here and there, due to natural and physical condit...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and Indonesia on Tuesday agreed to enhance bilateral trade, expand cooperation in health, agriculture, information technology, science, and education, and deepen coordination on regional and global issues, including Palestine.

Pakistan and Indonesia on Tuesday signed seven Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) and agreements aimed at deepening bilateral cooperation across a wide range of sectors, during a ceremony witnessed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.

Ruinous floods and landslides have killed more than 900 people on Indonesia’s island of Sumatra, the country’s disaster management agency said on Saturday, with fears that starvation could send the toll even higher. A chain of tropical storms and monsoonal rains has pummelled Southeast and South Asia, triggering landslides and flash floods from the Sumatran rainforest to the highland plantations of Sri Lanka. More than 1,790 people have been killed in natural disasters unfolding across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam over the past week. In Indonesia’s provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra, floods have swept away roads, smothered houses in silt, and cut off supplies. Aceh Governor Muzakir Manaf said response teams were still searching for bodies in “waist-deep” mud. However, starvation was one of the gravest threats now hanging over remote and inaccessible villages. “Many people need basic necessities. Many areas remain untouched in the remote areas of Aceh,” he told reporters. “People are n...

Officials in Indonesia and Sri Lanka battled on Wednesday to reach survivors of deadly flooding in remote, cut-off regions as the toll in the disaster that hit four countries topped 1,500. In Indonesia, survivors expressed growing frustration about the slow pace of rescue efforts and aid delivery, as humanitarian groups warned the scale of the challenge was almost unprecedented, even in a country that has faced no shortage of natural disasters. Monsoon rains paired with two tropical storm systems dumped record deluges across Sri Lanka, and parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra, southern Thailand and northern Malaysia last week. In Indonesia, 770 were confirmed dead, the country’s disaster management agency said on Wednesday, revising the toll down from 812 it announced earlier in the day. Another 463 people are also missing. Information is only trickling in as many regions remain physically cut off by flood damage, isolated by electricity and communications failures, or both. “It’s very challenging logistically to res...

Australia and Indonesia agreed on Wednesday to sign a new security treaty, which includes closer military cooperation, the two countries’ leaders said following talks in Sydney. Canberra has drawn ever nearer to longtime ally Washington, bolstering its military in an attempt to deter the might of a rising China in the Asia-Pacific region. Jakarta has walked a more neutral path, wary of drawing too close to Washington and far less willing to needle Beijing. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking alongside President Prabowo Subianto at a Royal Australian Navy Base in Sydney, said they had “just substantively concluded negotiations on a new bilateral treaty on our common security”. “This treaty is a recognition from both our nations that the best way to secure … peace and stability is by acting together,” Albanese told reporters. The Australian leader said he hoped to visit Indonesia next year to sign the new treaty. He said the agreement builds on a bilateral defence pact signed in 2024, which pledged closer...

The death toll from an Indonesian school collapse rose to 63 on Monday, officials said, as workers pulled more remains from the rubble of the building that collapsed last week. Part of the multi-storey Islamic boarding school on Indonesia’s Java island collapsed as more than 150 students gathered for afternoon prayers. Around half a dozen youngsters are still unaccounted for. “We hope we can conclude the recovery today (Monday), and we will return the bodies [to the families],” National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) operations director Yudhi Bramantyo told a press conference on Monday. The collapse was Indonesia’s deadliest disaster so far this year, Budi Irawan, the deputy head of the national disaster agency (BNPB), said. Investigators have been examining the cause of the collapse, but initial indications suggest that substandard construction may have contributed to the incident, according to experts. The families of the missing agreed last Thursday for heavy equipment to be used, after the 72-hour “g...

At least 10 people were killed during violent protests in Indonesia last week, a rights group said on Wednesday, one of several organisations to report fatalities due to the unrest. The disturbances that rocked Southeast Asia’s biggest economy last week were sparked by discontent over economic inequality and lavish perks for lawmakers. They later widened to include anger against police after footage circulated of the killing of a young driver by a paramilitary unit. The state-affiliated National Commission on Human Rights, or Komnas HAM, told AFP on Wednesday that it had received reports that 10 people had died. “There are indications that some of them were victims of authorities’ excessive force,” Anis Hidayah, the head of the group, said. The deaths were reported in the jurisdictions of Greater Jakarta, Makassar in South Sulawesi, Central Java, and Papua, she said. Komnas HAM also reported that more than 900 people were injured and thousands detained, although most of them have since been released. “Many ot...

Thousands rallied across Indonesia on Monday as the military was deployed in the capital after six people were killed in nationwide protests sparked by anger over lavish perks for lawmakers. At least 500 protesters gathered outside the nation’s parliament in Jakarta on Monday afternoon as dozens of police officers watched on. Soldiers were present earlier but left after several hours. Thousands more rallied in Palembang on Sumatra island and hundreds gathered separately in Banjarmasin on Borneo island, Yogyakarta on the main island of Java and Makassar on Sulawesi island, according to AFP journalists around the country. “Our main goal is to reform the parliament. We hope the parliament will come out and meet us. We want to talk to them directly, they are our representatives,” protester and university student Nafta Keisya Kemalia, 20, told AFP outside parliament. “Do they want to wait until we have a martial law?” The deadly protests, which began last week over MP housing allowances nearly 10 times the minimum...

A fire started by protesters at a council building in eastern Indonesia killed at least three people, a local official said on Saturday, after demonstrations across the country following the death of a man hit by a police vehicle. Southeast Asia’s biggest economy was rocked by protests in major cities including the capital Jakarta on Friday after footage spread of a motorcycle taxi driver being run over by a police tactical vehicle in earlier rallies against low wages and financial perks for lawmakers. Protests in Makassar, the biggest city on the eastern island of Sulawesi, descended into chaos outside the provincial and local city council buildings, which were both set on fire as demonstrators hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails. Three people were killed as a result of the fire at the Makassar city council, its secretary Rahmat Mappatoba told AFP. “They were trapped in the burning building,” he said, accusing protesters of igniting the blaze. “Usually during a demonstration, protesters only throw rocks or bu...

People in an Indonesian village watched as a tower of loudspeakers mounted on a truck rumbled through their usually serene home, blasting a thumping bass loud enough to crack windows. Loudspeaker towers are commonplace on Indonesia’s main island of Java, blaring a repetitive mix of electronic tunes and traditional folk music at street parties, but they have drawn the ire of local authorities and calm-seeking neighbours. The loudspeaker stacks have proven so disruptive that officials this month have restricted their use while religious bodies have declared excessive and damaging sound from them to be “haram”, or forbidden under Islamic law. “The sound is booming from 1pm to 3am. They play loud music and drink alcohol,” Ahmad Suliyat, a resident of Ngantru village in East Java province, told AFP. “It’s really disturbing.” Indonesians in East Java have shared videos on social media of cracked walls, falling roof tiles and damaged stores caused by the noise impact known as “sound horeg”, which loosely means to mo...

RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and Indonesia have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen bilateral defence cooperation and explore new avenues in economic, strategic, and defence sectors.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the U.S. would impose a 19% tariff on goods from Indonesia under a new agreement with the Southeast Asian country and said more deals were in the works as he continued to press for what he views as better terms with trading partners and a path to reducing a […]

RAWALPINDI: Indonesia’s Minister of Defence Lieutenant General Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin (Retd) called on Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Chief of Army Staff at General Headquarters, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. The defence minister, who is leading a delegation comprising representatives from various services and intelligence agencies, appreciated the role of Pakistan Army in fight against […]