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State firms accused of selling arms to Myanmar junta
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Surviving: Evacuated Rohingya people from Myanmar sit on the shorelines of Lancok village, in Indonesia's North Aceh Regency on June 25, 2020. Nearly 100 Rohingya from Myanmar, including 30 children, have been rescued from a rickety wooden boat off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island, a maritime official. said. (AFP/Chaideer Mahyuddin) (AFP/Chaideer Mahyuddin)
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coalition of human rights organizations and former attorney general and respected human rights defender Marzuki Darusman, have officially requested that the National Commission on Human Rights (KomnasHAM) investigate alleged arm sales by state-owned arms manufacturers to the Myanmar junta, which they say potentially took place after the 2021 coup.
The arms deals allegedly took place between Myanmar’s military junta government and state-owned companies PT Pindad, shipbuilder PT PAL and aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI). The firms have categorically denied the allegations leveled against them.
The companies are accused of having promoted and sold “handguns, assault rifles, ammunition, combat vehicles and other equipment to the Myanmar military over the last decade”. The arm deals, according to an open-source investigation initiated by Justice for Myanmar, allegedly continued after the coup by the junta against the civilian government led by the National League of Democracy (NLD), the nation’s ruling party, in February 2021.
Formal complaint
The groups, the Myanmar Accountability Project (MAP) and the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO), and Marzuki lodged the complaint with Komnas HAM on Monday, through their legal representatives Themis Indonesia.
“The fact that defense equipment has been actively promoted after the genocidal campaign against the Rohingya and the 2021 coup is cause for serious concern and casts doubt on the Indonesian government’s willingness to comply with its obligations under international human rights law and humanitarian law. Indonesia’s Human Rights Commission has a mandate to investigate, and I urge it to do so,” Marzuki said in a joint press release announcing the filing of the complaint.
In their complaint, a copy of which was received by The Jakarta Post on Sunday, the group alleged that Pindad had been selling arms to Myanmar through arms broker True North Co. Ltd., with which Pindad has a cooperation agreement. True North is owned by Htoo Htoo Shein Oo, the son of the Myanmar junta’s planning and finance minister, Win Shein. The company is also listed as an official supplier to Myanmar's military-procurement directorate.
