RI to purchase more Hercules from U.S.
Tiarma Siboro The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Instead of procuring lethal armaments from the United States, Indonesia has decided, initially at least, to purchase more Hercules transport planes over the next five to ten years as they are essential for supporting both military and non-military operations.
Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono made an announcement to this effect on Friday following the U.S. decision this week to lift its 14-year military embargo against Indonesia.
"The current threats (to domestic security) require rapid troop deployments," Juwono said. "The transport planes will also be of great benefit to the military (TNI) in carrying out civic missions, such as to transporting food, medicines and supplies to areas hit by natural disasters."
"We need to buy as many Hercules as possible because of the total of 24 transport planes purchased in the past, only six are still operational," Juwono said.
Three of the six transport planes were heavily used for relief efforts during last December's tsunami in Aceh that killed 131,000 people.
"Perhaps the purchase of new Hercules could account for up to 70 percent of the total procurement budget, while the remaining 30 percent will be used for the purchase of lethal armaments," the minister added without saying how much money would actually be available.
The 2005 state budget has allocated Rp 24 trillion (US$2.6 billion) for defense spending.
Juwono made his statement after holding a closed-door meeting with the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, B. Lynn Pascoe, on defense issues.
The two officials also discussed the role of Indonesia in preventing terrorist threats in the crucial Malacca Strait and in the Southeast Asia region -- threats that encouraged the Bush administration to lift the military embargo.
Juwono said that despite the revival of full military ties with the U.S., Indonesia would continue to seek alternative sources of military supplies, including armaments from Russia, Australia, China, and Spain, because a "changing political situation in the U.S. could affect us (Indonesia) the most."
Washington imposed a partial military embargo on Indonesia in 1992 after a massacre blamed on the TNI in Dili, the capital of the country's former East Timor province.
The U.S. later imposed a full embargo in response to allegations of gross human rights violations linked to the military, again in East Timor, after the 1999 U.N.-sponsored ballot for independence.
The embargo seriously depleted Indonesia's defense capabilities.
Meanwhile, Pascoe said the U.S. decision to restore ties was intended to "normalize the military-to-military relationship between the two countries."
JP/1/IBOX .rm72
U.S. military embargo cripples RI air capability
Effects Year
Impounding of 1 F-5E jet fighter being overhauled in the U.S. 1995
Spare parts for F-5Es impounded in Malaysia, Singapore, 1995 Malaysia, Brazil
Spare parts for F-16s impounded in South Korea, New late '90s Zealand
Only 5 out of 10 F-16 jet fighters airworthy
Only 9 out of 24 Hercules transport aircraft operational
Source: Indonesian Air Force