September 8, 2026 | 03:31 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia’s House of Representatives (DPR) has approved the sale of the retired KRI Ki Hajar Dewantara-364, a Yugoslav-built warship that served with the Indonesian Navy until it was decommissioned in 2019.
The approval was given during a plenary session at the House complex in Jakarta on Tuesday, September 8, 2026.
The process began after House Commission I Chairman Utut Adianto reported that the commission had discussed the proposed sale with the Defense Ministry.
After Utut delivered the report, Deputy House Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, who chaired the session, asked lawmakers to approve the sale of the former warship as a state-owned asset.
“Can the report by Commission I of the House of Representatives on the approval of the sale of state-owned property in the form of one former KRI Ki Hajar Dewantara 364 vessel be approved?” Dasco asked.
The lawmakers present approved the proposal.
Why is the warship being sold?
President Prabowo Subianto had previously proposed selling the KRI Ki Hajar Dewantara. Dasco announced the proposal during a House plenary session on August 18, saying the House had received a letter from the president concerning the planned sale on July 14.
Commission I subsequently reviewed the proposal, including the vessel’s background, condition and legal status, asset value and history, as well as considerations related to national defense and state asset management.
The Defense Ministry said the vessel is considered old for a major defense weapon system.
The 115-meter by 12.5-meter warship was built in 1980 at the Uljanik shipyard in Yugoslavia, which is now part of Croatia. It was equipped with navigation systems and an integrated radar system.
Brig. Gen. Rico Ricardo Sirait, head of the Defense Ministry’s Defense Information Bureau, said in August that repairing the aging vessel was no longer considered economically viable.
“The condition of the ship, which is technically old, is considered no longer economical to repair,” Rico said on August 20.
Despite its age, the government believes the vessel still has economic value and can be sold to generate a benefit for the state.
From warship to proposed tourist attraction
The KRI Ki Hajar Dewantara was previously considered for a different fate after its retirement.
In 2022, the government planned to sink the vessel off Buleleng, Bali, to create an underwater attraction for marine tourism. The plan was eventually scrapped after authorities determined that preparing and moving the ship to the sinking site would place too much pressure on the state budget.
The ship was named after Ki Hajar Dewantara, a prominent Indonesian educator who is widely regarded as the father of the country’s national education movement.
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