Jakarta – Two Indonesian Military (TNI) Army cadets have completed their education at the Royal Military College (RMC), Duntroon in Canberra and graduated on Dec. 10 in a ceremony led by Australian Governor-General Sam Mostyn.
The TNI identified the two Army cadets as Second Sgt. Maj. Cadet Made Surya Adi Putra and Second Sgt. Maj. Cadet Aldiva Rahmat Yudhatama in a statement on Friday.
Mostyn, who was appointed governor-general on July 1, expressed her pride in the international cadets graduating from RMC Duntroon, with which she said she had a strong personal bond.
Her father William Mostyn was an officer in the Australian Army who graduated from RMC Duntroon in 1956.
The governor-general said it was a great honor for her to attend the graduation ceremony and return to a place with deep emotional ties to her family.
Established in 1911, RMC Duntroon is one of the world's prestigious military training institutions. With a curriculum that combines academic, physical and military training programs, the college has produced 11,467 Australian and foreign officers.
This 2024 graduating class, the 146th Corps of Staff Cadets, consists of 72 cadets, including those from Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Tonga.
This is the third year that the Indonesian Army has sent cadets to study at RMC Duntroon, as part of an effort to strengthen defense cooperation with Australia.
Indonesian Army Military Academy governor Maj. Gen. R. Sidharta Wisnu Graha attended the graduation ceremony, along with deputy chief of mission Lintang Paramitasary from the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra, Indonesian Defense Attache to Australia Cdre. Yusliandi Ginting and Indonesian Army Attache Col. Leo Sugandi.
Aside from Australia, the TNI also sends its cadets to other military academies abroad to strengthen defense cooperation with those countries.
The longest program to date involves sending cadets to Japan's National Defense Academy (NDA) in Yokosuka, Kanagawa, which began in 1998.
Three TNI cadets graduated in March from the NDA: Army Second Lt. Aufa Azhar Hendartyo, Navy Second Lt. Mochammad Afandy Febrianto Chaidir and Air Force Second Lt. Marshall Wilanmer Sirilus Sigiro.
Navy Capt. Akhmad Kurniawan also graduated that month with a master's degree from the NDA.
In June, two cadets were accepted to continue their education in the United States: Cpl. Cadet Jason Aldrich Georgiovany from the Indonesian Military Academy was accepted to the US Military Academy West Point in New York, while Cpl. Cadet Ahmad Ghufron from the Indonesian Naval Academy was accepted to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
The TNI sent its first cadets to US military academies in 2021.
In December 2022, Second Lt. Rafi Pratama Insan and Second Lt. Muhammad Fadlan Mairubi, both in the infantry corps, became the first Indonesian cadets to graduate from the United Kingdom's Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. (nvn)