Armed Forces enter cyberspace world

Armed Forces enter cyberspace world

JAKARTA (JP): The Armed Forces and the defense ministry have
entered the cyberspace age, hooking up to the Internet.

Now, the two institutions are planning to jointly develop
their own data base system, to be called Hankamnet, Commodore Sri
Diharto, the defense ministry's chief of database information,
said yesterday.

Speaking at a seminar on defense and security information
networks, Diharto said the ministry and the Armed Forces are
already using the Internet to obtain information about
developments overseas. "We can learn a lot of things about
science and technology, defense and security matters through the
internet global network," he said.

The Indonesian military is also supplying information to the
network about defense and the military, although the data
provided is of a strictly "thematic" nature, he said.

He added that the military also uses the Internet to counter
"negative information" about Indonesia that circulates on the
computer network.

Diharto said the Internet has been used by "anti-Indonesia"
groups to discredit the government and the military.

As an example of false information that has found its way onto
the internet, he said the recent "home-page" of the U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency described Harmoko, the chairman of
Indonesia's ruling political organization, as a retired Army
lieutenant general.

More recent examples of "negative information" include
criticisms of the Indonesian military's presence in East Timor,
Aceh and Irian Jaya, he said.

He said Indonesia has no choice but to enter the cyberspace
age. "Whether we like it or not, we have to adapt to the drastic
advances in information and communications technology. We will be
left behind otherwise," he said.

He said the Armed Forces and the defense ministry's planned
Hankamnet database would provide accurate thematic information on
the military to the public.

"Through the (Hankamnet) network, interconnecting all
information centers in the ministry and ABRI (Armed Forces),
everyone will have access to information on defense and
security," he said.

The defense ministry's Director General for Planning and
Budgetary Affairs Rear Admiral Jusuf Effendi said an integrated
information system is vital to strengthen the management of the
Armed Forces.

Despite budgetary limitations, the Armed Forces will have to
set up a modern data base system for include military and
intelligence information, he said. (rms)