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)