Defence Ministry confirms no more military weapons training for SPPI KDKMP

The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that there will be no further training involving weapons or military tactics in the programme for Sarjana Penggerak Pembangunan Indonesia (SPPI) under the Koperasi Desa/Kelurahan Merah Putih (KDKMP) scheme. Deputy Defence Minister Donny Ermawan stated that this decision resulted from an evaluation following the deaths of five SPPI participants. He said the training for SPPI KDKMP is now very different from before. “We have revised this programme. Whereas previously they were also going to become a reserve component, we have now determined that they will only be given state defence education and training,” Donny said after a meeting with Commission I of the Indonesian House of Representatives at the parliamentary complex in Jakarta on Wednesday. According to him, participants are now only taught lessons related to nationalism, patriotism, and discipline. In essence, he said the training provided also focuses on leadership so that prospective cooperative managers are equipped with the necessary skills, as a manager will have a number of staff to lead. “How to train togetherness and cooperation. Those are the values we will provide,” he said. He further explained that the five SPPI participants who died had different causes, ranging from fatigue due to lifestyle changes, weather conditions, to pre-existing illnesses. “There may have been certain cases, incidents perhaps due to the weather and so on, which caused those with already limited conditions to ultimately pass away,” he said. In response to the incident, the Ministry of Defence expressed its deepest condolences to the victims’ families. He assured that the ministry did not wish for such an event to occur and will use the incident as a lesson to prevent it from happening in the future. “We have also provided compensation and initial support for repatriation of the bodies, burial, as well as compensation provided by the Ministry of Defence, and we are also assisting with the processing of compensation claims from BPJS Ketenagakerjaan which is still underway,” he said.