MORE than 100 Indonesian military officers attended study courses in Australia last year at a cost to Australian taxpayers of more than $2.5 million.

At present there are 23 studying at numerous campuses with nine at the Australian Defence College in Canberra and this year’s total number will be similar to 2013-14.

Many Australians were shocked at the spectacle of Indonesia this week using jet fighters, heavily armed balaclava wearing troops and armoured vehicles during the transfer of Bali death row inmates Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran to the death island of Nusa Kambangan.

Some have called for Australia’s generous defence cooperation program with Jakarta to be put on the table after the poor country wasted tens of thousands of dollars on such a macho display to transport two shackled prisoners.

The two Russian made Sukhoi fighters that escorted their plane cost about $50,000-an-hour to operate.

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Tasmanian independent Senator and former Army Sergeant Jacqui Lambie said Australia should review all of its aid to Indonesia if they proceeded with the executions.

“We give them $500 million a year and their military is 10 times the size of ours,” she said.

“If worse comes to worst then we should suspend all military cooperation and foreign aid and direct the money to defence pay and helping veterans.’’

In addition to the millions spent each year to educate Indonesian officers, taxpayers also forked out millions more in 2012 to “gift” four second-hand Hercules C-130 H model transport planes to Indonesian forces.

In the past the army has also trained the notorious Kopassus Indonesian special- forces unit and last year the two countries participated in 11 multilateral military exercises including Exercise Pitch Black when Indonesian fighter jets were based in Darwin.

Senior Australian military officers enjoy close links with their Indonesian counterparts and some have been known to sing karaoke with their hosts during visits to Jakarta.

Defence Minister Kevin Andrews hinted at possible consequences for Jakarta if it proceeded with the state sponsored murder of the two convicted drug traffickers.

“As to ramifications, well we would have to consider them if and when the executions occur,” Mr Andrews said.

“We have an important strategic relationship with Indonesia and we’re going to remain countries close to each other in terms of geographical proximity forever, so we have to be mindful of that.”

Strategic analyst with the government funded Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) Andrew Davies said the show of force was inappropriate.

“It was a clumsy piece of signalling and incredibly unedifying,” Dr Davies said.

He said in the event of the executions proceeding then Australia should send a strong signal to Jakarta.

“All defence cooperation activities should be on the table in the short-term,” he said.

A former senior army officer who asked not to be identified said the government had to be careful not to “over egg’’ its response to the executions.

“If these men were facing the death penalty in the US we wouldn’t be doing anything like this,” he said.

“There is a limit to what we can do and sending people home wouldn’t help at all.”

Indonesia is one of the main beneficiaries of the annual Defence Cooperation Program.

Our close Muslim neighbour accounts for about $4 million of the annual $16 million outlay on all South-East Asian nations.

“The objective is to maximise Australia’s security through developing close and enduring links with partners that supports their capacity to protect their sovereignty, work effectively with the ADF and contribute to regional security,” the defence annual report says.

One well-placed source said Australia didn’t do itself any favours on the issue of capital punishment by “cheering loudly” when the Bali bombers were executed.