SBY Recounts His UN Experience, Ceasefire Violation Investigations
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Indonesia’s sixth President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), recounted his experiences while serving as the United Nations (UN) Chief Military Observer.
At that time, as the UN’s Chief Military Observer, SBY often investigated violations of ceasefire agreements.
“I once undertook a UN mission in Bosnia (former Yugoslavia) from 1995 to 1996. With the rank of Brigadier General, I served as the UN’s Chief Military Observer. We frequently conducted investigations into ceasefire violations,” SBY stated in a post on his X account @SBYudhoyono, quoted on Monday (6/4/2026).
The three individuals are Major Inf (Posthumous) Zulmi Aditya Iskandar, Sergeant Major (Posthumous) Muhammad Nur Ichwan, and Corporal (Posthumous) Farizal Rhomadon.
Although he understands that investigations in armed conflict areas like Lebanon are indeed not easy.
“The UN (primarily UNIFIL) with full sense of responsibility, must be able to explain why a series of consecutive incidents resulting in the deaths and injuries of Indonesian ‘peacekeepers’ occurred,” SBY said.
“I know that investigations in highly dynamic combat situations are often not easy. However, they can still be carried out in the hope that the results will be logical and reasonable (acceptable, believable narrative),” he added.
Peacekeepers are not heavily armed and are not given mandates to carry out combat tasks.
They are stationed along the blue line or in the blue zone, which is not a combat area or war zone.
“The Indonesian contingent is essentially stationed along the ‘Blue Line’ that separates Israeli territory from Lebanese territory. Now, in reality, what was once around the ‘Blue Line’ has become a ‘war zone’, where battles between Israel and Hezbollah rage daily,” SBY stated.
“With this argument, the UN in New York should immediately take firm decisions and steps to halt the UNIFIL deployment or relocate their positions away from the current blazing battlefield,” SBY emphasised.