Shooting Training Scrapped for Cooperative Manager Candidates After Five Deaths

The Ministry of Defence has eliminated shooting training from the programme for aspiring managers of the ‘Red and White Village Cooperatives’ and ‘Red and White Fishermen’s Villages’ following the deaths of five participants. Brigadier General TNI Rico Ricardo Sirait, Head of the Defence Information Bureau, confirmed the decision was made after a joint evaluation. He acknowledged that video footage of shooting training circulating on social media was authentic but was recorded before the latest evaluation took place. “The documentation or coverage related to the planned shooting activity was an activity carried out last week, before the latest evaluation of the programme’s implementation,” Rico told Tempo on Monday, 29 June 2026. As a follow-up to the evaluation, the Ministry of Defence has adjusted the programme’s approach, including changing the name from Basic Military Training to National Defence and Managerial Training. This change is accompanied by a reduction in tactical and technical military material. “This includes shooting activities which are no longer part of the current training. The intensity of physical activities has also been reduced and adjusted to the participants’ backgrounds as civilians,” Rico stated. He added that the programme’s focus is now directed towards building discipline, character, leadership, teamwork, responsibility, national insight, and managerial readiness for their future roles. The first wave of the training programme runs from 17 June to 31 July 2026, with a total of 35,476 participants, comprising 30,000 candidates for village cooperative managers and 5,476 for fishermen’s village managers. Five participants died within the first ten days of the programme. The deceased were identified as Nola Dya Sari, Novia Rahmadhani Sihotang, Anisa Muyassaroh, Yonanda Muhammad Taufiq, and Muhammad Rifki Renaldi Gunawan. Nola Dya Sari, who was training at the State Defence Education Unit in Kalimantan, died on 26 June 2026 after complaining of shortness of breath and fever. On the same day, Muhammad Rifki Renaldi Gunawan, a participant at the 465 Para Commando Battalion Education Unit in East Jakarta, also died after experiencing similar symptoms; he had a known history of hypertension and obesity. Novia Rahmadhani Sihotang, a participant at the Indonesian Air Force Doctrine Development, Education, and Training Command Language Centre in Jakarta, died on 23 June 2026 due to active tuberculosis. Anisa Muyassaroh died on 18 June 2026, a day after training began, from heat stroke while attending training at the Mulawarman Regional Military Command Education Unit in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. Yonanda Muhammad Taufiq died on the first day of training, 17 June 2026, from cardiac arrest.