Speech by Minister for Defence Mr Chan Chun Sing at the National Resilience Institute of Indonesia (LEMHANNAS) on 5 August 2025

Bapak Dr Ace Hasan Syadzily, Governor of LEMHANNAS,

Staff of LEMHANNAS,

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

Para hadirin yang saya hormati [Translation: Distinguished guests, I respect (or honour) you]. A very good afternoon to all of you. Thank you for this opportunity to have a dialogue with you. Congratulations to all of you who are going to graduate soon. I am sure you will be taking on heavier responsibilities in your leadership journey for Indonesia, and I wish you all the very best. For me personally, it is good to be back in Indonesia. Why do I say I am happy to be back in Indonesia? Dulu, hampir dua puluh tahun yang lalu, saya jadi Atase Darat di Indonesia. Sekarang merasa seperti balik kampung. Mungkin sudah lama tidak minum cukup itu air Indonesia. Sekarang, Bahasa Indonesia saya sudah kurang halus. (Translation: A long time ago, almost twenty years ago, I was a military attaché in Indonesia. Now that I am back here, it feels like it has been a long time, and my Bahasa Indonesia has become less fluent). When I was the Singapore Army Attaché back in Indonesia, I had the distinct privilege to travel to all the provinces of Indonesia, kecuali dua (Translation: except two). Waktu itu masih ada hanya tiga puluh dua provinsi Indonesia. Sekarang sudah tambah, tiga puluh delapan. So, kecuali itu provinsi Maluku dan NTT, yang lain saya sudah pernah datang. (Translation: At that time, Indonesia had only thirty-two provinces. Now it has increased to thirty-eight. So, except for the provinces of Maluku and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), I have visited the others). I had many good friends with my Indonesian counterparts, including MENHAN Pak Sjafrie. Pak Sjafrie and I, we were young officers together, when he was in Kopassus (Translation: Indonesia’s Special Forces Command), and I was in Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) as a young officer.

I must say this, if you think my ties with Indonesia started in 2001, that is not exactly correct, because my ties with Indonesia go back to the 1990s when I was a young infantry officer. When I was a young infantry officer, every year, my brigade would take turns to host Exercise Safkar Indopura where we trained and exercised with the TNI Kostrad units. In 1995, I also participated in the SAF-TNI Personnel Exchange Programme where I spent a month in Pussenif (Infantry Training Centre), Bandung. I share with you all this background, not because my experience was special. Actually, many of us in my generation grew up together with our counterparts in Indonesia. That was how we were able to build the trust and friendship that has allowed us to do many things together today.

Singapore and Indonesia have many common interests. We have a shared interest in upholding the international rule of law – not just in the security domain but also in the economic sector. In today’s world where there are many challenges confronting both our countries, it is all the more important that we work together. Second, Singapore and Indonesia are also similar in the following sense – both of us are building our national identities upon our multiracial, multi-religious background. This year is Singapore’s 60th year of independence. This year is Indonesia’s 80th year of independence. Both of us are still relatively young nations that are built upon a multiracial, multicultural society. The third thing that we share between Singapore and Indonesia is that we believe that our domestic matters and our future must be decided by our own people, free from external influence. Fourth, we work together through ASEAN and beyond to secure our interests in regional and multilateral forums. But I have always reminded all of us, both in Singapore and in Indonesia, that both of us are not competing with one another. The real competition is never between Singapore and Indonesia. The real competition is Singapore and Indonesia with the rest of the global uncertainties, and that is why Singapore and Indonesia, despite our differences in size, geography, population and so forth, we are able to find win-win opportunities to complement one another. This is always important to remember – that the real competition is never between Indonesia and Singapore, but with the ever-changing world.

This is so important in today’s world, where we need to work together to overcome the uncertainties in the security and economic domains. However, even as there are many challenges ahead of us, there are also many opportunities for us to work together. For example, as the world seeks to diversify risks, there is much that Singapore and Indonesia can provide as a reliable, secure and trusted option for the world. If we are able to do this together, both Singapore and Indonesia will be able to grow the opportunities for our people and our countries.

For Singapore, we firmly believe that a successful Indonesia is good not just for Indonesians, not just for Singaporeans, but also for the region and the world. This is why we have worked closely with Indonesia over all these years. While there might be differences now and then that we need to manage, we have much more shared interests, much more in common. There are no differences that we cannot manage with mutual trust and respect for each other’s interests.

Singapore is Indonesia’s largest investor, and Indonesia is also one of our top trading partners.  We have various projects together, which help to grow our economy and create jobs for our people. For example, in the case of Kendal Industrial Park, our investments increased by more than 150% year-on-year from May 2024 to May 2025, which is about US$10 billion, and our jobs created have increased by almost 50%, to close to 66,000 people.

Beyond economics, our security cooperation goes back even further. Our first bilateral exercise, Exercise Eagle Indopura was conducted in 1974, more than 50 years ago. We now have regular exercises between our Armies, Navies, Air Forces and Special Forces – for example, Exercise Safkar Indopura (first conducted in 1989), Exercise Eagle Indopura (first conducted in 1974), Exercise Camar Indopura (first conducted in 1999), and Exercise Chandrapura (first conducted in 1994). We also have joint naval and air patrols such as the Malacca Straits Patrol launched in 2004, the Coordinated Patrol Indonesia-Singapore (CORPAT INDOSIN) launched in 2023 between our Navies, and the upcoming Singapore-Indonesia Coordinated Patrol (PATKOR INDOPURA) between our Air Forces. But these are just peacetime operations.

We have also worked on real operations together. For example, for those of you old enough, you might remember that in the middle of the 1990s, the Singapore Armed Forces and the TNI worked together to rescue hostages from the OPM atau Organisasi Papua Merdeka – Free Papua Movement (OPM). In fact, there was one operation where President Prabowo was personally involved. When MI185 crashed near Palembang in 1997, we were also deeply appreciative of the help rendered to Singapore by the Indonesian agencies. Likewise, when Indonesia needed help in other humanitarian disasters such as during the Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami in 2018 and even earlier during the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in 2004, both the Indonesian and the Singapore Armed Forces have always stood shoulder to shoulder to overcome many of these challenges. This comes to the most important point that I hope we will remember. We are able to conduct such operations smoothly because for generations of young officers growing up, we have trained together and have built mutual trust and understanding. Without the mutual trust and understanding, our operations, whether in real operations or in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) or in the economic sphere, will never be so smooth. This is why we need to continue to keep planting the seeds of mutual understanding between our two countries, two armed forces, and our people. The latest Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) is yet another example of how we are constantly looking for new opportunities to work together, to develop new joint training facilities to enhance the capabilities of our armed forces. Be it in Siabu, Baturaja, Batujajar, Singkawang, or anywhere else, there are many opportunities for us to work together. The resolution of the Flight Information Region (FIR) issue is another positive example of our “win-win” relationship where we respected and understood each other’s needs for us to work out mutually beneficial solutions.

To do all these, we will need to continue to plant the seeds of mutual trust and cooperation in our next generation. This is why I have always advocated for more exchanges between our young students, especially now when they can do so physically or online; more exchanges between our university students; and more exchanges between our government officials including many of you in LEMHANNAS. We welcome you to Singapore to meet up with your counterparts to share with Singaporeans how you are leading Indonesia and what we can work together on and learn from one another. There is always a joke in Singapore that with close friends, even if we cannot share with you what to do, we can always share with you what not to do, so that we do not repeat each other's mistakes. I hope that when you go into leadership positions, you too will advocate for more regular personnel exchanges and exercises between our people, so that we can continue to build on our strengths and complement one another for our mutual growth, and our people must continue to grow up together with a deep sense of understanding and respect for one another.

I always tell my fellow Singaporeans that they should never say they understand Indonesia, or have been to Indonesia if they have only been to Jakarta and Bali, because Jakarta and Bali are not the whole Indonesia. I hope that when you visit Singapore, you will also not make the mistake that Orchard Road or Takashimaya are the whole Singapore. This is what I mean by saying that we really need to spend time understanding each other. Many people have joked that perhaps I have visited more provinsi Indonesia than many in this room. But the more places in Indonesia I visit, the more I understand how complex Indonesia is and how much more I need to visit to fully or better understand Indonesia. It is with that spirit that I encourage people to keep going to visit one another and go beyond the usual places that people visit.

On this note, I will conclude by saying that Singapore stands ready to partner Indonesia in the next bound of growth. We are constantly looking for opportunities to strengthen our relationship with Indonesia, to look for win-win projects that we can work with you on. I hope that after you graduate from LEMHANNAS, as you take on leadership positions across the whole Indonesia, you will also remember Singapore. If there is any opportunity at any time where you think that Singapore can be a partner with you in your development journey, do let us know, and I am happy to have a discussion with you. Thank you very much.

More Resources

Singapore and Indonesia Reaffirm Strong and Long-standing Bilateral Defence Relations