General calls for defense doctrine

General calls for defense doctrine

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia urgently needs a doctrine on state defense to identify
all internal and external threats to its territorial integrity
and to manage its defense forces, a retired general says.

Sudrajat, a retired Army major-general and a former director
general of defense strategy at the Ministry of Defense, said
Indonesia could no longer rely on the current defense policy and
deterrence system amid the changing threats and strategic
environment.

"We do need a (new) defense doctrine and a review of the
deterrence system in line with the changing threats ... The
defense doctrine will have to present a new concept on how the
defense system will be managed well, effectively and
efficiently," he told a seminar on defense organized by the
Centre for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) on Wednesday.

Sudrajat, who will soon assume the post of Indonesian
ambassador to China, said that following the end of Cold War,
traditional threats have shifted to those related to domestic
problems such as secessionist movements, communal and sectarian
conflicts.

"In countering the separatist movements in Aceh and Papua and
communal conflicts in other regions, security authorities can no
longer deploy expensive jet fighters and tanks," said, predicting
that Indonesia would not face any military attack by other
countries within the next 10 to 15 years.

He added that Indonesia also needed to improve the
professionalism of its defense forces and enhance its bilateral
and multilateral cooperation with other countries in the
Southeast Asian region in countering transnational crimes, such
as human trafficking, smuggling, piracy, illegal fishing and many
other external threats.

During the current reform era, Sudrajat said, Indonesia had
enacted two new laws -- one on state defense and another on the
Indonesia Military (TNI) -- and a white book on defense, but none
detailed how a deterrence system should be managed well, what
kinds of arsenals were needed at present and how the military
could be deployed effectively and efficiently.

He said the defense system should be designed by the President
as the TNI supreme commander, the National Defense Board and the
House of Representatives.

It should regulate what kinds of arms were needed, how they
should be procured and how the military was deployed in
accordance with its deterrent, rehabilitative and enforcement
functions, he said.

"So far, there has been no policy on arsenal procurement. We
have purchased jet fighters from U.S., Britain and Russia with
high prices and paid high maintenance costs, while they are no
longer relevant to current threats. It's not only the military
but also the House of Representatives, which should be the only
institutions granted the political authority for the military
buildup," he said.

Andi Widjayanto, a military analyst from the University of
Indonesia, concurred, saying Indonesia's existing deterrence
system was ineffective and inefficient because of the presence of
137 often incompatible or incomplete weapons systems.

"The arsenals are not effective because they do not match with
the changing strategic environment in the defense field, and they
are not efficient because we have recruited and trained a
numerous number of personnel to operate them and spent much money
to maintain them," he said.