Megawati raises military spending
Megawati raises military spending
The Jakarta, Jakarta
President Megawati Soekarnoputri has warned that the country's
unity is being threatened by separatist rebellions, as well as
illegal sea and forest exploitation by criminals who exploit the
weaknesses of the Indonesian police and military.
Speaking before members of the House of Representatives (DPR)
on Monday, Megawati said the country needed a huge amount of
money to recruit, train and equip the National Police and the
Indonesian Military (TNI) so they can protect the nation's
territorial integrity.
"To maintain the country's unity and provide a certain sense
of security for the entire population, our nation requires highly
professional, strong and effective law enforcers, including the
defense and security personnel," Megawati said while presenting
the 2005 state budget draft.
In the budget proposal, Megawati, who is seeking a full five-
year term in the Sept. 20 election, allocated Rp 21.97 trillion
for defense, a 2.8 percent increase from the 2004 budget. She
also earmarked Rp 11.2 trillion for the police in 2005, up by 5.7
percent.
The budget draft, which will still be deliberated upon by
House members and the government, may be endorsed by the end of
September.
Government troops are still fighting against members of the
Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the troubled province of Aceh, where
the rebels have been waging a war for independence since 1976.
Over 10,000 people, mostly innocent civilians, have been killed
since then.
The TNI has also been fighting sporadic battles against
members of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) in Papua, the country's
easternmost province.
Rampant illegal logging and illegal fishing have also been
blamed on poor law enforcement and a weak Navy.
Megawati also reiterated her pledge to equip the military with
a squadron of Russian-made Sukhoi jet fighters and a squadron of
Russian-made MI-35 helicopters.
"In the near future, depending on our capability, we will have
a strong Air Force," she said.
Indonesia has in the past year, purchased four Sukhois and two
MI-35s from Russia.
The TNI chief welcomed the funding increase on Monday but
suggested that the rise was still far from enough to cover all
the costs incurred by the TNI. He, however, was unable to say
exactly how much the TNI needed to cover its actual expenses.
"We have not yet calculated the amount needed," he explained.
Meanwhile, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said
Monday that a significant part of the 2005 budget would be used
to improve officers' competence and welfare as well as to recruit
new officers from across the country.
"I thank the government for increasing our budget. We intend
to increase our personnel numbers throughout the country because
we still lack the optimum number of personnel to cover many
areas. We will also focus on enhancing the skills of existing
officers," said Da'i.
They are currently carrying out a series of recruitment drives
for low and middle ranking officers to meet the required number
of personnel nationwide.
Right now, there are some 280,000 police officers around the
country. The ratio of officers to citizens is one to 1,200, while
the ideal ratio according to the United Nations is one to 300.
The police also plan to use the funds to build more police
stations across the country.
"Many new regencies, districts and subdistricts have been
created by the government. We must have a police station in each
of these new administrations. So, we will use some portion of the
money to build those," said Da'i.
A criminologist from the University of Indonesia, Erlangga
Masdiana, welcomed the plan to increase officers' skills, saying
that a lack of competence and welfare was at the heart of why
police failed to respond to public complaints.
"We need a professional police force to be able to handle all
of public's complaints. We can achieve this only if we have
highly qualified and sufficiently paid police officers," he said.