Govt seeks more funds for military

Govt seeks more funds for military

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono said on Wednesday he was
proposing Rp 5 trillion (US$538 billion) in additional funds from
the state budget to improve the capability of the Navy and Air
Force.

He, however, could not say what kind of equipment that the two
forces needed, pending further meetings with the two chiefs of
staff.

"We had actually talked about the plan to allocate more funds
for the Navy and Air Force earlier before the Ambalat dispute
surfaced. Indeed, the case has given us a chance to make the
public understand about the real condition of our military,"
Juwono said in response to questions of whether the new plan was
caused by the naval confrontation with Malaysia two weeks ago
near the Ambalat oil block off of Borneo.

The offshore oil block is located in the Sulawesi Sea, and
both Malaysia and Indonesia are claiming it.

The defense budget of the world's fourth most populous country
is considered very low, even compared to smaller neighboring
countries, such as Thailand and Malaysia.

For the 2005 fiscal year, the government allocated over Rp
21.6 trillion for defense expenditures, accounting only for 6
percent of the state budget.

The Indonesian Military does have approximately 400,000 active
troops. But much of its military equipment is in poor condition.
It has two squadrons of Hercules aircraft but only a handful are
operational. This has often been used by the TNI as a reason for
their slow response in sending soldiers and humanitarian aid to
areas hit by security disturbances or natural disasters.

Air Force spokesman First Air Marshall Sagom Tamboen said his
office had initially proposed that the government procure six
more Russian-made Sukhoi jet fighters and spare parts for the
Hercules C-130 transport planes.

"The Air Force also requires maritime aircraft to support our
surveillance planes," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

Meanwhile, Navy spokesman First Adm. Abdul Malik Yusuf said
his office planned to procure submarines, missiles and patrol
boats equipped with rockets.

Earlier, Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Djoko Santoso said he
would improve the 22 new territorial commands across the country.

The Army will recruit more soldiers, establish six more
brigades, 14 infantry battalions, a Cavalry battalion, two
Cavalry detachments and a missile detachment to strengthen its
force, he explained.

The Army also has a third division of elite troops based in
Sorong, Papua.

"Ideally, we need more than 300,000 soldiers to guard this
vast territory," Djoko said. The Army now has around 270,000
troops.

Commenting on the Army's plan, Juwono said: "Yes, we support
it. And if we have enough in the budget, we will also disburse
funds for that."