Indonesia and Myanmar junta arms link probe

A former Indonesian attorney-general has demanded an independent probe into claims three state-owned arms manufacturers have been selling weapons to the Myanmar military.

An annual parade by the Myanmar military in the capital Naypyidaw. Picture: AFP

A former Indonesian attorney-general has demanded an independent probe into allegations three state-owned arms manufacturers have been selling weapons and military equipment to the Myanmar military in full knowledge of its atrocities against its own people.

Marzuki Darusman, the Myanmar Accountability Project and Chin Human Rights Organisation have lodged a formal complaint with Indonesia’s Human Rights Commission alleging PT Pindad, PT PAL and PT Dirgantara have been selling assault rifles, combat vehicles and other equipment to a military infamous for mass rights violations.

The complaint alleges the sales have occurred over the past decade – including during the 2017 genocidal military “clearance operation” against Myanmar’s minority Rohingya Muslim pop­ulation, and potentially also since the February 2021 military coup that ousted the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

A protester holds a poster with an image of detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a candlelight vigil to honour those who have died during demonstrations against the Myanmar military coup. Picture: AFP

The explosive accusations, if proven, would mean Indonesian state-owned companies were aiding and abetting Myanmar military atrocities even as the Indonesian government repeatedly condemned its actions, though all three companies have denied the claims.

“As state-owned enterprises, these companies are under the ­direct control of the Indonesian government and subject to the oversight and approval of the government,” said Mr Darusman, who chaired a UN fact-finding mission on Myanmar after the military’s deadly 2017 Rohingya “clearance operation”.

‘Clearance operations’ against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar conducted by the Burmese army led to hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing into Bangladesh on foot or by boat. Picture: Getty Images

“The fact that defence equipment has been actively promoted after the genocidal campaign against the Rohingya and the 2021 coup is cause for serious concern and casts doubt on the Indonesian government’s willingness to comply with its obligations under international human rights law and humanitarian law.

“Indonesia’s Human Rights Commission has a mandate to ­investigate and I urge it to do so.”

An open-source investigation and leaked documents suggest the arms may have been brokered through True North, a Myanmar company owned by the son of junta planning and finance minister Win Shein, who is subject to sanctions by the US, Canada, and EU.

The sales are alleged to have occurred while Indonesia was an active member of the UN Human Rights Council, and also when it voted for a General Assembly resolution calling “on all UN member states to prevent the flow of arms to Myanmar”.

Surabaya-based shipbuilder PAL told The Australian it had no record of “any collaboration, whether in the form of direct contracts for buying and selling, or strategic business-to-business partnerships, with any party, be it the government of Myanmar or businesses in Myanmar”.

“We ensure there are no ­exports to Myanmar through other countries because when we export warships we always co-ordinate and obtain permission from the Ministry of Defence,” it said.

PT Pindad, which produces ­assault rifles, pistols, sniper guns and machine guns, denied it had sold any weapons to Myanmar since the coup, adding it did “not support the post-coup situation and genocide that was reported to have occurred there”.

“We do not sell weapons to Myanmar. Even if we did, it happened in 2016 as an export transaction,” secretary Dianing Puji Rahayu told BenarNews.

Bandung-based aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia said it had “never entered into a contract or conducted any transactions with the Myanmar military junta or any other third parties associated with the Myanmar military junta”.

But Myanmar Accountability Project spokesman Chris Gunness said the joint investigation had turned up damning evidence of “shocking double-standards”.

Indonesia has led the push for ASEAN to take a stronger stand against the Myanmar regime ­responsible for the violence against Myanmar civilians aimed at quashing mass resistance to its rule.

A report late last month by UN Human Rights commissioner Volker Turk presented evidence that Myanmar civilians were being burned alive, dismembered, raped, beheaded and bludgeoned to death by their own military as it struggles to regain control of large parts of the country.

Mr Turk described the atrocities as “inhumanity in its vilest form”, and warned the scale of the military’s crimes was being exacerbated by foreign-sourced air power and heavy weaponry.

About 4100 people have been killed since the 2021 coup and more than 25,000 arrested, according to local monitoring groups.

Additional reporting: Dian Septiari