Indonesian and Singaporean defence officials at the launch of the Indonesia–Singapore (INDOSIN) Defence Alumni Initiative in Jakarta, Indonesia, on July 14, 2026. (Ministry of Defence)
On July 14, Singapore and Indonesia launched a joint defence alumni body in Jakarta, turning decades of informal contact between their officer corps into a standing institution. Singapore Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing and his Indonesian counterpart Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin launched the Indonesia-Singapore (INDOSIN) Defence Alumni Initiative, known as PERSAHAN (Persahabatan Alumni Pertahanan, Indonesian for Defence Alumni Friendship), as co-founders. They signed the body’s initiating directive and unveiled its logo on the sidelines of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Day reception in Jakarta. The two armed forces’ chiefs, SAF chief Vice Admiral Aaron Beng and Indonesian military (TNI) commander General Agus Subiyanto, will serve as co-presidents.
PERSAHAN gathers serving and retired SAF and TNI officers who have passed through each other’s professional military courses, together with current and former defence attaches posted to the two capitals. Its stated aim is to preserve those personal and professional ties beyond active service. General Agus called the launch another milestone in relations between the two militaries.
Chan, in Jakarta on a two-day working visit, used the trip to reaffirm with Sjafrie an intent to open new areas of cooperation, and both ministers underlined the value of multilateral formats such as the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM).
Singapore fields one of the world’s most space-constrained militaries and has long relied on training areas abroad, with access to Indonesian waters and airspace near the Riau Islands is among the most valuable it holds. That access is based on a Defence Cooperation Agreement first signed in 2007 but left unratified by Indonesia’s parliament for a decade and a half, stalled by lawmakers wary of allowing a foreign military to exercise on Indonesian soil. It was ratified only in late 2022 and brought into force the following year.
It was against this backdrop that the alumni network was officiated. The value Singapore draws from the relationship depends on arrangements that remain politically sensitive in Jakarta and therefore exposed to nationalist sentiment and changes of government. A body that binds successive cohorts of officers, outlasting any single minister or commander, is a hedge against those swings. Both defence establishments have signalled over the past year that they want to deepen precisely this kind of people-to-people engagement, alongside expanded exercises and education exchanges.
About The Author
