Defense minister advised to restructure office

Defense minister advised to restructure office

Tiarma Siboro
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

While welcoming defense minister Juwono Sudarsono's plan to
eradicate corruption and markup practices in arms-purchase
procedures, an expert has urged for the restructuring of the
ministry and the introduction of a special bureau to deal with
the procurement of jobs.

Military observer Andi Widjajanto of the University of
Indonesia said the bureau should comprise officials who are
familiar with the defense industry at both a domestic and
international level.

"So far, there is no defense ministry official who is capable
of dealing with international companies that produce defense
equipment. This has prompted each official to develop a network
with their own partners or brokers in procuring military arms. Of
course, fees are part of the deals," Andi said on Thursday.

He suggested that officials from state ship builder PT PAL in
Surabaya, state arms producer PT Pindad in Bandung and the now
defunct aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia in Bandung be
recruited to the new bureau, saying that they more or less have
the required knowledge.

The bureau should fall under the Directorate General of
Procurement.

In the first move to promote good governance, Juwono said he
and the military's leadership were streamlining the procedures
for procuring arms, which would no longer involve Indonesian
Military (TNI) Headquarters.

An initial meeting was held on Wednesday involving the
minister, TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto and all three chiefs
of staff.

The purchase of military equipment has, for the last few
decades, involved contractors in line with a presidential decree
on public procurement that was issued in the 1970s.

Andi said the presence of contractors would remain a
necessity, but asserted that during the procurement process the
ministry and the TNI headquarters had to comply with the Defense
Law which promotes a top-down policy. The current practice
follows a bottom-up pattern.

"Apart from markup practices in the ministry, the military has
so far ignored the role of civilian supremacy when it comes to
the design of the defense program. The military has opted to
directly approach the President, as the TNI's supreme commander,
to consult its needs," Andi said.

Sharing Andi's view, Danang Widoyoko of the Indonesian
Corruption Watch (ICW) suggested that the defense minister review
the budget allocation for the military and cut down the procedure
to channel the budget.

Danang also asked the minister to dissolve military
territorial commands in areas that have low potential for
security disturbances for the sake of efficiency.

"No less than Rp 9 trillion (US$980,000) out of Rp 22 trillion
of the military's budget in the current fiscal year was allocated
to the Army with the omnipresence of its territorial commands.
While, on the other hand, the Navy and the Air Force lack the
equipment to maintain the country's sovereignty," Danang said.

Also, for the sake of efficiency and practicality, Andi
suggested that the defense ministry maintain three directorate
generals dealing with procurement, finance and defense
capabilities, but scrap the other two directorate generals.