Govt prepares new defense white paper

Govt prepares new defense white paper

A white paper outlining Indonesia's defense strategy for the
next 15 to 20 years will be put to public debate later this year
for endorsement.

Maj. Gen. Sudradjat, the director general for defense strategy
at the Ministry of Defense, told The Jakarta Post his office had
already completed the draft, and would submit it to various
government agencies next month for a debate.

Once completed, the Ministry of Defense will organize a major
seminar, bringing in outside experts and members of the House of
Representatives, for their endorsement later in the year.

"Hopefully, we can start implementing the white paper early in
2003," he said.

The document, currently about 150 pages long, could still be
trimmed down to about 75 pages, he said.

Concurrent with the white paper, the Ministry of Defense has
drafted another document, Defense Strategic Review, outlining its
defense strategy in greater detail.

This review is classified, Sudradjat said.

Indonesia needs to formulate a coherent long-term defense
strategy that is adhered to by every successive government, he
said.

He did not go into detail about the white paper, but said one
idea for change was to bring the Ministry of Defense and the
Indonesian Military (TNI) under one roof by 2009 for greater
efficiency and effectiveness in policy implementation.

The white paper also presents an argument for the government
to double defense spending from the present Rp 9 trillion (US$900
million) a year.

Sudradjat said with the white paper, some decisions on
procurement would be made at the highest political levels,
eliminating the competition between the three services for a
larger share of the budget to upgrade their weaponry.

"Some decisions on defense matters cannot be left entirely to
the TNI," he said. "The president, the (defense) minister, the
Cabinet and the House of Representatives must be brought in." --
JP