Ministry to focus on local weaponry

Desy Nurhayati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Defense Ministry said it will make the most of the Indonesian Military (TNI)'s limited budget and will focus more on procuring new defense and military equipment produced by local manufacturers.

"We will spend the defense budget as effectively as possible to develop the military's minimum essential force," Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono told reporters Wednesday after chairing a leadership meeting with TNI chief Gen. Djoko Santoso.

The meeting was also attended by officials from the Defense Ministry, Finance Ministry and the National Development Planning Board.

"During the last 10 years, we've been dealing with old defense and military equipment and we've spent much on their maintenance," Juwono said.

"Therefore, we will buy new equipment that is more efficient in terms of operations and maintenance."

He said the budget for the procurement and maintenance of new equipment was currently being calculated by each of the three military's forces.

The defense ministry received Rp 36.4 trillion (US$3.8 billion), or around 4.5 percent of the 2008 state budget, of some Rp 800 trillion.

This year's defense budget has increased from last year's Rp 32.4 trillion.

The defense sector becomes the second priority in the state budget after the education sector.

The ministry's director general for defense facilities, Rear Marshall Eris Herryanto, said this year the ministry would focus on buying equipment produced by domestic manufacturers.

He said the ministry had ordered 150 armored vehicles from state-owned PT Pindad, local producers of military equipment.

"We prioritize to buy from local manufacturers, as long as they are able to supply our needs, because we want to improve the industry," Eris said.

"But if we have to import the equipment, we will require for transfer of technology from the manufacturers."

The ministry's secretary general Lt. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said the procurement of defense and military equipment would be prioritized on transport aircraft, including helicopters produced by state-owned aicraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia and patrolling vehicles for the Navy from state-owned shipyard PT PAL.

To buy the equipment, the ministry was set to reallocate Rp 2.1 trillion, which was taken from the ministry's export credit facility of Rp 4.8 trillion, Sjafrie said.

Juwono said the ministry would also improve the welfare of military personnel, despite the lack of budget.

He said the ministry had been used to the limited budget, including in terms of soldiers' welfare, which had been much criticized.

"But I am proud of our soldiers, they are professional," said Juwono.

"If we compared them with the soldiers from other Southeast Asia nations, they might be the best."