Low funds hamper Navy: Official

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The limited annual budget allocated for the Navy has caused its poor performance in maintaining security and national defense throughout the archipelago's waters, an official said.

Navy spokesman Vice Adm. Franky Kayhatu acknowledged on Saturday that the poor performance of the Navy in maintaining defense and security had made the nation prone to escalating naval threats, including illegal fishing by foreign vessels.

"Actually we need many more ships. But we must be realistic and make adjustments," he said.

Franky said that the budget allocation for the Navy had decreased over the last three years, especially after the economic crisis which hit the country in 1997.

"We understand our current economic condition. We hope that the economy will recover soon so that we will benefit from it," he told The Jakarta Post.

In the 2001-2002 draft budget, the defense budget will reach Rp 9.40 trillion (US$989.47 million). But military observer Kusnanto Anggoro said most of the budget was allocated for routine expenditure which included salaries and administrative costs.

"The budget is not sufficient to build infrastructure," he added.

Franky said that due to the shortage of funds all military exercises had been dropped and would be replaced with indoor simulations.

Kusnanto concurred, saying that the Navy badly needs upgrading especially to help counter illegal fishing by foreign vessels, which causes the nation to suffer losses of US$4 billion per year.

"We need comprehensive development of the Navy. But we must be realistic since we have insufficient budget," chairman of the House of Representatives Commission I for defense affairs Ibrahim Ambong said on Friday.

Ibrahim recalled that during his recent trip to East Kalimantan's Navy fleet base, he realized that the Navy was in need of a larger fleet.

"Currently, the largest portion of the budget is allocated for the Army. It's time for us to develop the Navy because our geographical condition requires a larger fleet to deal with daily duties," he said.

The Army receives the biggest portion of the defense budget because it has the largest number of personnel. Data shows that the number of personnel in the Army reached about 200,000, while the Navy only had 47,000 personnel and the Air Force 23,000.

A similar concern was raised by fellow legislator Aisyah Aminy from the United Development Party (PPP), who said that the lack of infrastructure had become the main obstacle for the Navy to perform well.

"I think the government has to pay serious attention to the Navy," she told the Post.

A lack of budget allocated funds was also mentioned in a book issued in 1998 by the Navy. In the book titled "The Navy toward a better future", it explained how it had to cut spending in order to survive.

The economic crisis has prompted the Navy to modify old ships instead of purchasing new ones for defense purposes.

Kusnanto said the current land-based defense doctrine that focused only on the development of the Army should be revised. "The doctrine adopted by the military is no longer appropriate," he said.

Despite the fact that the country has the longest coastline in the world, he said, the TNI had only developed a defense system in anticipation of land-based attacks. "Rather than improving strategies for guerrilla war, the military should develop a naval defense system as well," he said.