Indonesia
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary
Signatory Indonesia has pledged to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but has not taken any steps to do so, aside from holding stakeholder consultations. Indonesia participated in a meeting of the convention in September 2021 and voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting universalization of the convention in December 2021.
Indonesia states that it has never used, produced, or exported cluster munitions, but has acquired them in the past and possesses a stockpile.
Policy
The Republic of Indonesia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.
Indonesia has not taken any steps to ratify the convention, aside from holding stakeholder consultations.[1] Government officials have expressed their desire for Indonesia to ratify the convention, but the ratification request has not been sent to the national parliament for consideration and approval.[2]
Indonesia participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and was one of the strongest supporters of a comprehensive ban on the weapons.[3] Indonesia hosted a regional conference on the convention in Bali in November 2009.
Indonesia has participated in several meetings of the convention, most recently the Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021.[4] It has attended regional workshops on the convention, most recently a virtual meeting for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) military officials organized by the Philippines in July 2020.[5]
In December 2021, Indonesia voted in favor of a key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[6] Indonesia has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.
Indonesia is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).
Use, production, and transfer
Indonesia has stated that it has never used, produced, or exported cluster munitions.[7]
Stockpiling
Indonesia possesses cluster munitions, but has not shared information on the types and quantities stockpiled.[8]
Jane’s Information Group reported in 2004 that Indonesia possesses United States (US)-made Rockeye cluster bombs.[9] In 2016, the Indonesian Marine Corps took possession of 122mm Type-90B surface-to-surface rocket launchers, but it is not known if the ammunition used for these weapons includes versions with submunition payloads.[10]
In June 2020, Indonesia received a shipment of 36 Brazilian-made ASTROS II Mk. 6 multi-barrel rocket launchers, capable of firing SS-60 and SS-80 300mm surface-to-surface rockets or SS-150 450mm rockets.[11] The SS-60 and SS-80 rockets can be equipped to deliver either a unitary high explosive warhead or multiple submunitions.[12] The payload version for the ASTROS II acquired by Indonesia is not known, and Indonesian officials have never responded to requests from the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) to clarify this question.[13]
[1] In October 2017, a government representative said that stakeholder consultations on the convention were continuing. Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) meeting with Danny Rahdiansyah, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Indonesia to the UN, New York, 18 October 2017. Indonesia has conducted extensive consultations on the matter of its ratification of the convention. Indonesia’s armed forces, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Law and Human Rights Affairs, and members of parliament have reviewed and discussed the convention. Statement of Indonesia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 13 September 2011; interview with Roy Soemirat, Head of Section, Directorate of International Security and Disarmament, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jakarta, 5 April 2011; and email from Luna Amanda Fahmi, Directorate of International Security and Disarmament, Department of Foreign Affairs, 18 June 2010.
[2] CMC campaign meeting with Amb. Agus Sardjana, in Dubrovnik, 9 September 2015; and Monitor interview with Lynda K. Wardhani, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Indonesia to the UN, Geneva, 24 June 2015.
[3] For more details on Indonesia’s policy and practice on cluster munitions up to early 2009, see Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 91–92.
[4] Previously, Indonesia participated in the first part of the Second Review Conference held virtually in November 2020, the First Review Conference in 2015, the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2011–2012 and 2016, and intersessional meetings in 2011–2015.
[5] Philippines Mission to the UN in Geneva press release, “Philippines hosts webinar to promote Convention on Cluster Munitions among ASEAN Member States,” 29 July 2020.
[6] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 76/47, 6 December 2021.
[7] Statement of Indonesia, Lima Conference on Cluster Munitions, 24 May 2007. Notes by Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).
[8] In 2010, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative stated that Indonesia was conducting an inventory of its stockpile of cluster munitions. Email from Luna Amanda Fahmi, Department of Foreign Affairs, 18 June 2010.
[9] Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey, Jane’s Information Group, 2004), p. 840.
[10] “Indonesian Marine Corps receives four Type 90B Multiple Launch Rocket Systems from China,” Army Recognition, 29 December 2016. The artillery system was reportedly delivered under a 2015 contract between Indonesia and Chinese state defense contractor NORINCO.
[11] “Indonesia receives more ASTROS II multiple-launch rocket systems,” Asia Pacific Defense Journal, 18 June 2020.
[12] If they contain explosive submunitions then they are prohibited by the Convention on Cluster Munitions. See, Stop Explosive Investments “Avibras (Brazil),” undated.
[13] Jane’s 360, “ASTROS II boosts firepower,” 5 November 2014; Militerhankam, “Astros II Mk 6 MLRS Milik TNI AD,” undated; and CMC letter to Retno Lestari Priansari Marsudi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, 18 April 2017. According to a Brazilian media article, the purchase agreement was signed in 2012. See, Roberto Godoy, “Brasileira Avibrás fecha contrato de US$ 400 milhões com a Indonésia” (“Brazilian Avibrás wins US $400 million contract with Indonesia’”), Estado, 21 November 2012.