Three Indonesian companies asked to investigate arms sales to Myanmar after coup

Human rights organization and former Indonesian Attorney General Marzuki Darusman has formally requested the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission to investigate allegations that three state-owned companies, PT Pindad, PT PAL and PT Dirgantara Indonesia, continued to sell weapons to the Myanmar military government after the 2021 coup.

Ba công ty Indonesia bị yêu cầu điều tra bán vũ khí cho Myanmar sau đảo chính

Three Indonesian state-owned companies have been accused of selling weapons to Myanmar's military government. (Source: bnn.network)

However, on October 4, the Indonesian state-owned defense industry corporation (DEFEND ID) affirmed that it will not export defense industry products to Myanmar after February 1, 2021, in accordance with Resolution 75/287 of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) banning the supply of weapons to Myanmar.

According to DEFEND ID, its member companies PT Pindad, PT PAL and PT Dirgantara Indonesia have never exported defense and security products to Myanmar after the UN Security Council resolution of February 1, 2021. The group stated: “The export to Myanmar was carried out in 2016 in the form of sports-standard ammunition products for Myanmar to participate in the ASEAN Army Rifles (AARM) 2016.”

Similarly, according to DEFEND ID, PT Dirgantara Indonesia and PT PAL also do not have any cooperation activities in selling defense and security products to Myanmar.

Pindad Chairman Abraham Mose also denied the human rights groups’ allegations, saying the company has not had any sales transactions with Myanmar since 2016. “We don’t even have a Memorandum of Understanding (with Myanmar) since the 2016 agreement to ship ammunition to Myanmar for an official ASEAN competition,” Mose stressed.

Earlier, on October 2, a group of human rights organizations and former Indonesian Attorney General Marzuki Darusman officially requested the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission (KomnasHAM) to investigate allegations that three state-owned companies, PT Pindad, PT PAL, and PT Dirgantara Indonesia, sold weapons to the Myanmar military government. These three state-owned companies of Indonesia are said to have advertised and sold “handguns, assault rifles, ammunition, combat vehicles, and other equipment to the Myanmar military over the past decade.”

According to a public investigation initiated by the organization “Justice for Myanmar”, these arms transactions are said to have continued after the coup that overthrew the civilian government led by the National League for Democracy (NLD) party in February 2021.

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