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.