DPR gives conditional support to higher defense spending
DPR gives conditional support to higher defense spending
JAKARTA (JP): A commission of the House of Representatives
(DPR) yesterday said it backs the Armed Forces (ABRI) call for a
23 percent hike in military spending but stressed the need for
the forces to eliminate graft among its members.
The House's Commission I on defense and security said the
higher budget should be used to improve the salaries of ABRI
members as one measure to end corruption.
During a hearing with Vice Admiral Yusuf Effendi, director
general of planning and budget of the Ministry of Defense and
Security, the commission said that ABRI's salary is too small
considering their responsibilities.
Commission chief Aisyah Aminy said DPR backs the government's
reasoning that more money is needed to step up ABRI's ability to
perform early detection.
"The meager salaries have tempted ABRI members to get involved
in various forms of manipulation and corruption as the defense
and security minister has acknowledged," Aisyah said.
The Defense and Security Ministry has proposed a budget of Rp
6.15 trillion ($2.9 billion) for the 1995/96 fiscal year that
starts in April. This represents a 23 percent increase.
A number of DPR members said the meager salaries had led some
ABRI members, including the police, to corrupt practices, about
which the public has often complained.
Legislator Aminullah Ibrahim from the ABRI faction estimates
that the average annual take-home pay of an Indonesian soldier
was only US$1,800, the lowest in the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. By comparison, the average
annual net salary of a Malaysian soldier was as high as
US$11,000.
"The small salary has tempted many ABRI members to turn to
illicit sources like collusion," he said, adding that a similar
allegation had been voiced in a similar meeting with Minister of
Defense and Security Minister Edi Sudrajat last week.
Jansen Ibrahim Silaen from the government-backed Golkar said
low salaries were partly to blame for poor police service.
"If a farmer seeks a policeman's help in finding his stolen
goat, it usually costs him a buffalo," he said sarcastically.
Director General Effendi said human resources development
would receive a higher priority than material investment in the
coming fiscal year.
Defense spending has increased every year but its proportion
of the overall state budget is falling as the government focuses
more on economic development, he said.
Indonesia's defense spending is now put at around 1.7 percent
of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), he said.
This year's defense budget of Rp 5 trillion is hardly
sufficient to fund maintenance and operation, field supplies and
health care.
The tight budget has forced the military to give priority to
maintenance of equipment needed for national security.
"Under current budget conditions, it's hard to imagine how
we'll build a reliable defense system as stated in the 1993
Guidelines of State Policy," he said. (pan)