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