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.