Jakarta. The US will bankroll the project aimed at bringing home its fallen military personnel from Indonesia, according to a senior official, as calls mount for Jakarta to be extra careful with money as the rupiah remains under pressure.

Last month, Jakarta agreed to help the Donald Trump 2.0 administration in recovering the remains of the World War II soldiers. Signing this memorandum was the DPAA, the US agency in charge of identifying the missing soldiers overseas. Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin revealed on Tuesday some behind-the-scenes details of the partnership, including the financial aspect, as government spending has become a more sensitive issue in Jakarta.

“We will take care of the remains of the [American] soldiers. We shall both respect our sovereignty. We help [the US]. And they [the US] are the ones who will pay for it, not us,” Sjafrie told Indonesian lawmakers in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He went on to say that the operations will “only last for five years”. Sjafrie did not explicitly state how much such searches would cost, including the estimated number of missing soldiers to be found in the country. However, the US Congress wrote that it had appropriated around $171.8 million for the DPAA for the 2026 fiscal year. The US and other Allied powers treated Indonesia’s Morotai as their strategic base during World War II, making it the likely focal point during the upcoming searches. 

The search partnership came when Sjafrie visited the Pentagon in April. US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at the time thanked Jakarta for its continued support in helping Washington “find, return, and protect the remains of [its] soldiers who fought alongside Indonesians during World War II”.

The US Department of War says that over 80,000 personnel have gone missing from past conflicts. As many as 38,000 individuals scattered across the globe are estimated to be “recoverable”. 

At home, the Indonesian rupiah has smashed through the Rp 17,700 mark per dollar. According to Bloomberg spot market data, the rupiah closed at Rp 17,706 per dollar on Tuesday. Economists have warned the government to be mindful of spending, including ensuring energy subsidies — which are feared to soar as a repercussion of the US-Iran war — go to the families in need.

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