Defense budget proposed to increase to Rp 23.6 trillion

Defense budget proposed to increase to Rp 23.6 trillion

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Ministry of Defense said here on Friday it would propose a
7.56 percent increase to its budget next year to Rp 23.6 trillion
(US$23.6 billion) from the current Rp 21.9 trillion.

The increased budget would partly be used to finance defense
programs aimed at maintaining Indonesia's sovereignty and unity,
it added.

Based on the ministry's budget proposal, the fund allocated
for these programs would be increased by more than 127 percent
from Rp 25.76 billion to Rp 58.59 billion.

Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono said the proposed budget
increase for the programs was to empower the Indonesian Military
(TNI) to deal with "heightened threats against the country's
sovereignty and unity".

He declined to detail what these threats were but said the
funds would not include purchases of military equipment.

"Sovereignty is no longer an absolute value. We can see that
more than 12 foreign states have put our territory under
surveillance. So, efforts to guard the unity of this state are a
must," Juwono said.

"It is a miracle that we are able to keep this vast territory
from breaking apart, should we look at the condition of our
military, whose numbers and equipment are inadequate," Juwono
said, citing as a comparison Singapore that allocated twice as
much as Indonesia's defense budget to secure its 45-kilometer-
long territory.

The ministry's director general of defense planning, Rear Adm.
Yuwendi, said the Army would receive the largest share of the
increase of up to Rp 9.2 trillion, while the Navy and Air Force
would get Rp 3.5 trillion and 2.7 trillion respectively.

For the current fiscal year, the Army received about Rp 9.05
trillion.

Yuwendi said the Army received the largest share for the
welfare of its soldiers.

The Army has about 200,000 personnel, the Navy 35,000, and the
Air Force around 24,000.

"For the Army, we may also have to increase the allocation to
improve soldiers' mobility when guarding border areas," said
Yuwendi.

"The troop mobilization is part of our efforts to guard border
areas and would also help curb illegal logging that has caused
billions of dollars in state losses each year," Yuwendi said.

He said two Army elite units -- the Army's Strategic Reserves
Command (Kostrad) and the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) --
which have often been deployed in the country's conflict-torn
territories would be equipped with more sophisticated
instruments, including GPS (Global Positioning Satellite)
devices.

"We also want to ensure that in 2007, we can purchase two
submarines for our Navy. We already have an agreement with South
Korea (to do this). And for the Air Force, we would like to see
all of our Sukhoi jet fighters equipped with weaponry systems,"
Yuwendi said.

Former president Megawati Soekarnoputri's administration
bought four Russian-made Sukhoi jet fighters, none equipped with
weapons.