Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – The Indonesian government said Monday that it had not officially reached a deal with the US on letting American military planes easily fly over its airspace.
The New Delhi-based Sunday Guardian recently reported that President Prabowo Subianto had approved authorizing blanket overflight clearance for US military planes, fueling worries over a shift in Indonesia's neutral foreign policy stance.
The news outlet quoted a classified US document, while adding that Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoedin is set to ink an agreement in Washington this week.
"The document that is circulating is still in the initial design stage. It is still under internal discussion and between [government] agencies," Sjafrie's spokesman Rico Ricardo Sirait told the Jakarta Globe.
The government described the cooperation as a "letter of intent", underlining the nascent nature of the proposed arrangement.
"The deal is not final. It is not legally binding. It cannot be used as a basis for official government policy," Rico stated.
Indonesia said that it would stick to national interests when negotiating defense deals with other nations. Jakarta went on to say that the government would "maintain Indonesian sovereignty in full and remain guided by the national and international regulations" in such discussions.
"Authority, control, and oversight over Indonesian airspace rest entirely in our country. Any potential regulation shall guarantee Indonesia's full authority to approve or reject any activity in national airspace," Rico told the Globe.
Indonesia chose not to rush as the "entire process is subject to the country's laws, institutional mechanisms, and political decisions."
"There is no room for unilateral implementation outside the Indonesian law."
Lukman F Laisa, the director-general for air transport, said that all planes including foreign military aircraft "must obtain diplomatic clearance and security clearance from the Indonesian government" when transiting via the national airspace.
Despite the earlier denials, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is set to host Sjafrie at the Pentagon on Monday local time, according to the US Department of War.
Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/indonesia-says-blanket-us-overflight-access-deal-is-not-fina