RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta – Indonesia's Minister of Defense, Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, received a courtesy call from Australian Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Donald Marles at the Defense Ministry, Jakarta on Thursday, March 12, 2026. During the meeting, they discussed several areas of cooperation of both countries, including a plan to build an international training facility in Morotai.

After the meeting with Richard Donald, Minister Sjafrie stated that the dialogue with Richard Marles lasted quite a long time. This was because, in addition to serving as deputy prime minister, Donald also holds the position of Australian Defense Minister.

Moreover, Minister Sjafrie stated that the meeting included a one-on-one discussion, which was later followed by a bilateral Indonesia-Australia meeting.

“I explained how, as minister of defense, I manage national defense policies domestically, especially for national stability. After that, I also conveyed how we update ourselves on global developments that also influence Indonesia,” Sjafrie said.

In the defense sector, Indonesia and Australia already have bilateral cooperation, which is also being expanded by involving Papua New Guinea and Japan. According to Sjafrie, this cooperation will continuously develop.

“We discussed the possibility of developing a training facility in Morotai. Morotai was used during the Second World War, so it still has defense infrastructure, and we will improve it together and use it together,” he mentioned.

Minister Sjafrie explained that the development of the international training facility in Morotai is an initiative from Indonesia. As a major country in Asia, he said Indonesia must also have large-scale infrastructure, because Indonesia is surrounded by neighbouring countries, so it should not isolate itself from them.

“We want our country to be open-minded toward other countries. Earlier, I explained how we could build International Training Facilities in Morotai. There, we could conduct air, naval and land exercises,” he conveyed.

Before discussing it with Australia, Sjafrie said that President Prabowo Subianto, when he was still serving as defense minister, had previously offered the idea to Singapore. However, Singapore requested a location that was closer, because Morotai was considered too far from Singapore. As a result, the two countries agreed to build a training facility in North Kalimantan.