Indonesia Cancels Shooting Drills After Trainee Deaths

Indonesia's Ministry of Defense has canceled shooting drills for participants in its Indonesian Development Pioneer Scholar (SPPI) program after five trainees died during basic military training.

The decision came after an evaluation of the program, which involves basic military training, known as latsarmil. The ministry confirmed that video footage circulating on social media of shooting drills was recorded before the recent evaluation.

Brigadier General TNI Rico Ricardo Sirait, Head of the Defense Information Bureau, stated that the ministry is adjusting its approach. The program, previously called latsarmil, will now be known as National Defense and Managerial Preparedness Training. The curriculum will be modified to reduce tactical and technical military activities, including shooting exercises. The physical intensity of the training will also be lessened to accommodate participants' civilian backgrounds.

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The documentation or coverage related to the planned shooting activity was carried out last week, before the latest evaluation of the program's implementation.

Five participants died between June 18 and June 26, 2026. Causes of death included respiratory distress, fever, hypertension, obesity, and active tuberculosis. One participant died from heat stroke during training in Balikpapan.

The SPPI program aims to equip participants with discipline, character, leadership, teamwork, responsibility, national insight, and managerial readiness to manage village and fishing village cooperatives. The first wave of the program, running from June 17 to July 31, 2026, includes 35,476 participants.

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Including shooting activities is no longer part of the current training implementation. The intensity of physical activities is also reduced and adjusted to the participants' backgrounds as civilians.