Marine Corps plan new assault battalion

JAKARTA (JP): The Marine Corps is currently forming a new assault battalion designed for landing and amphibious operations despite questions surrounding the financing of the sophisticated weaponry needed for such a unit.

Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Tanto Koeswanto disclosed on Monday that the new unit, which will be the third assault battalion in the Corps, is needed to protect Indonesia's vast maritime territory.

"This battalion will consist of 2,000 troops and will be equipped with weapons systems comprising amphibious tanks, tank landing ships, helicopters and standard arms," Tanto told reporters after inducting Brig. Gen. Djoko Pramono as the new commandant of the Marine Corps to replace Maj. Gen. Gafur Chalik, who will become the Navy's inspector general.

The additional battalion is one of the programs comprising the recently launched Fifth Military Strategic Plan from 1994 to 1998.

Tanto said he did not foresee any problems in recruiting 2,000 personnel for the new battalion, but added that financing questions remain to be solved.

He pointed out that such a battalion requires a minimum of 12 helicopters, between 32 and 36 amphibious tanks, 10 to 12 tank landing ships (LST) and weapons.

"Imagine how much we will have to spend for such an array of military equipment," he said, reminding reporters that military spending takes low priority in the government's budgetary plans.

He argued however that Indonesia desperately needs a third Marine Corps assault battalion because of the huge area that needs to be patrolled -- six million square kilometers of marine area and more than 17,500 islands.

"The marine corps in Thailand, which has one tenth the maritime territory of Indonesia, is the same size as Indonesia's," he said.

He said the plan is in keeping with the principle of maintaining a streamlined but effective military force, which was used as part of a major rationalization program in the 1980s. "The size should be proportional to the territory," he said.

Besides the present two assault battalions, the Marine Corps has six infantry battalions, five reserve battalions and six battalions for administrative affairs.

All the battalions are located in Jakarta and Surabaya.

The Marine Corps, a command established in 1945, has played a pivotal role in past various military operations, including the quashing of communist coups in 1948 and 1965, the campaign to regain Irian Jaya from the Dutch in the 1960s and the military confrontations against Malaysia and Singapore in the 1960s.

The corps have also participated in United Nations peacekeeping missions in Congo, Vietnam, the Middle East, Iraq and Cambodia. (rms)