SINGAPORE – President Halimah Yacob on Wednesday conferred the Republic’s highest military award on the former commander-in-chief of the Indonesian National Defence Forces.

General (Ret) Andika Perkasa, 58, was awarded the Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang (Tentera), or Distinguished Service Order (Military), at the Istana, in recognition of his significant contributions in enhancing defence cooperation between the two countries.

The Ministry of Defence (Mindef) said that under his leadership, both militaries deepened cooperation and forged a stronger rapport between personnel through regular bilateral interactions.

Examples cited included Exercise Safkar Indopura and Exercise Joint Minex Pandu, as well as the inaugural Exercise Super Garuda Shield 2022, which saw the militaries of 14 different countries train together in Indonesia.

Gen (Ret) Andika was appointed commander-in-chief on Nov 17, 2021. He vacated the appointment on Dec 19 the following year.

Mindef added that Gen (Ret) Andika also supported resumption of coordinated patrols between both countries’ navies, as well as collaboration between the Singapore Armed Forces and Indonesian military at multilateral platforms, including the Information Fusion Centre and Counter-Terrorism Information Facility, contributing to regional peace and stability.

Before Wednesday’s investiture, Gen (Ret) Andika inspected a guard of honour and called on Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, as well as Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen and Chief of Defence Force Rear-Admiral Aaron Beng at Mindef.

“During the calls, both sides reaffirmed the close and longstanding bilateral defence ties and expressed commitment to deepen bilateral defence cooperation,” Mindef said.