DILI, 19 august 2022 (TATOLI)— The commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), General Muhammad Andika Perkasa, expressed willingness to support training on the Timor-Leste’s Defence Forces F-FDTL Military component, navy components, and Military air component.
This was disclosed by TNI Commander Andika Perkasa after meeting with Timor-Leste Commander of Defense Force (F-FDTL), Lieutenant Gen. Falur Rate Laek, at the F-FDTL Headquarters, Fatuhada Dili, Friday afternoon.
“ I was here in 2015 with President Jokowi at that time. So, this second time now sees very good progress. So, this has to move forward and the way we move forward is by working together. But what is clear is that we find common ground for how we should be closer to each other,” commander Andika Perkasa told reporters.
In his meeting with Lieutenant General Falur, he discussed the possibility of cooperation that will be accomplished next year.
“I brought my staff so that we will follow up with the budget allocation to support our cooperation next year. Cooperation will be accomplished, among others, and will provide more seats for students in the army, sea, and air. Because right now, it seems that it’s only on land and that’s only at the LEMHANAS (National Resilience Agency) level,” he said.
He emphasized that the TNI will later offer more places, starting from Captains in the army, sea, and air, as well as for Major or Lieutenant Colonels as well as including common exercise (general training) according to level.
In addition, the two generals from the TNI and F-FDTL agreed that there would be more discussions about the technical matters. However, the training process can be passed with the possibility of joining the Garuda Shield in 2023 or being carried out in Timor-Leste.
“We are training whether in Indonesia to join the Garuda Shield next year or also in Timor Leste. We agreed maybe more to the engineer. The point is we have to be closer to each other,” he said.
Garuda Shield is a two-week joint exercise between the United States Army and the Indonesian Army, which was first held in 2007. The purpose of this joint exercise is to improve and enrich the forest warfare capabilities of both the participating countries, this joint exercise takes place in Indonesia.
For this year, the 14 countries that will participate in the 2022 Super Garuda Shield are Indonesia, USA, Canada, France, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Korea, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, UK, Australia, Singapore, and Japan. The joint exercise of Super Garuda Shield 2022 involves 4,000 troops from participants’ countries.
Journalist: Jose Belarmino De Sa
Editor: Nelia B
