Jakarta-Moscow

Jakarta-Moscow

A new alliance -- Jakarta-Moscow -- may have come to the minds
of many people when Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri
and Russian Vladimir Putin signed memoranda of understanding for
technical and military cooperation in Moscow this Monday.

Indonesia has agreed to buy helicopters, middle- and long-
range missiles and Sukhoi jet fighters. In return, Russia is to
develop massive projects in Indonesia, including the rocket and
satellite launch pads in Biak, Papua, and a floating nuclear
power plant.

From a geopolitical point of view, the purchase of Russian
military equipment is considered to be important to lessen
Indonesia's dependency on the United States. Experience has
taught us that our complete reliance on the U.S. put us in a
difficult situation when the U.S. halted its military
cooperation, including the sales of weaponry, with Indonesia
following the East Timor violence in 1991. This dependence has
obviously been used by Washington to pressure Jakarta.

We don't know exactly what our military really needs.
President Megawati said that our military equipment was too old,
but there has been no explanation as to whether we really need
Sukhoi jet fighters and S-300 long-range missiles. We also don't
know if the Sukhoi would be compatible with the current F-16
fleets we bought from the U.S.

Minimizing our dependence on the U.S. and building a nonpolar
world is important, but purchasing arms and military equipment is
another matter which needs a serious and thorough consideration.

It seems that the decision to buy military equipment from
Russia was made by the President alone.

-- Koran Tempo, Jakarta