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.