Top Military Award Conferred on Chief of Defence Force of Indonesia

General (GEN) Agus Subiyanto (right) with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam (left) after receiving the Distinguished Service Order (Military) award at the Ministry of Defence.

GEN Agus Subiyanto (left) called on Minister for Defence, Mr Chan Chun Sing (right) this afternoon earlier today.

GEN Agus Subiyanto inspected the Guard of Honour at the Ministry of Defence this afternoon.

Chief of Defence Force of Indonesia General (GEN) Agus Subiyanto was conferred Singapore's highest military award, the Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang (Tentera) [Distinguished Service Order (Military)], by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) this afternoon.

GEN Agus was conferred the award for his significant role in strengthening defence ties between the Indonesian National Defence Forces (TNI) and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). Under GEN Agus’s leadership, the implementation of the Defence Cooperation Agreement[1], which entered into force in 2024, has continued to be smooth. Both militaries also maintained a high cadence of professional exchanges and regular bilateral exercises such as Exercise Safkar Indopura, Exercise Eagle Indopura, Exercise Elang Indopura, Exercise Chandrapura and Exercise Manyar Indopura. The TNI and the SAF also successfully conducted the bilateral exercise Counter-Terrorism Field Training Exercise, Exercise Griffin Cakti last year. These interactions greatly promoted interoperability and friendship between both armed forces.

The investiture was attended by Minister for Defence, Mr Chan Chun Sing, Senior Minister of State for Defence, Mr Zaqy Mohamad, Chief of Defence Force Vice Admiral (VADM) Aaron Beng, as well as senior government officials and military officers from Singapore and Indonesia.

GEN Agus, who is in Singapore from 6 to 7 January 2026, also called on Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Mr Lawrence Wong, at the Istana where they reaffirmed the close and longstanding bilateral defence relationship between Singapore and Indonesia. In addition, GEN Agus called on Mr Chan and VADM Beng at MINDEF, after inspecting the Guard of Honour.

[1] The DCA is a mutually beneficial agreement that was signed as part of the Expanded Framework Agreements, which entered into force in Mar 2024. It has further strengthened the strategic relationship between both defence establishments, enabled closer interaction between the SAF and the TNI, and formed the foundation for us to work closely with Indonesia on new areas of defence cooperation.