The House and the controversial 'Sukhoigate;' deal

Djoko Susilo, Member, Commission I Reform Faction House of Representatives

Recently, several leading members of Commission I proposed setting up a special committee to investigate the purchase of Sukhoi fighter jets from Russia, a deal involving Minister of Industry and Trade Rini Suwandi and Wijanarko Puspoyo, head of the National Logistics Agency (Bulog).

The members were angry because the deal violated important laws regarding defense, budgetary law and banking procedures and regulations. Moreover, Rini has yet to comply with a request to appear before Commission I to clarify aspects of the controversial deal, instead continuing on to Poland to negotiate the purchase of 10 Sokhol helicopters and 5 Skytruck planes for the National Police.

It is true that the Indonesian Military (TNI), especially the Air Force, badly needs military equipment, especially to support its operations in Maluku, Papua and Aceh. It is also a noble idea to diversify sources for military supplies since it avoids total dependency on America and its western allies.

However, this noble idea has been diverted to short-term interests. The violation of various laws and regulations, the violation of ministerial authority and indications of corruption, collusion and nepotism indicate the potential loss of a large amount of money for the country.

We do not deny that our Air Force, as part of the TNI, has been subject of a U.S. embargo for many years. The Leahy Amendment has prevented the TNI from getting spare parts, ammunition and other military hardware from the United States. Therefore, Commission I has urged the Ministry of Defense and the TNI to look for alternatives. But do we need Sukhoi at this time?

After listening to many sources within the Air Force, the conclusion so far is that more priority should be given to transport planes, because our existing military transports only comprise four old Hercules C-130s.

Instead of buying Sukhoi, we should buy Antonov 12 or Antonov 24. Transport planes are important in increasing mobility of the troops to troubled areas such as in Aceh or Papua. The next priority should be given to transport helicopters such as Mi-8T or Cargo helicopter Mi-8, or antiinsurgency helicopters such as Mi-24 and Mi-35. The Sukhoi is unfit to be used to crush the rebellion in Aceh or Papua. Sukhoi is a good weapon for regional defense. But to protect the archipelago, we need at least two squadrons of Sukhois.

The Sukhoi deals could repeat the disastrous deals of the purchase of the former East German fleet under former president Soeharto and then research and technology minister B.J. Habibie in 1994. At that time, the deal was hailed as a brilliant decision but later was proven a very costly mistake.

Of 39 ships, only 10 were seaworthy after major overhaul and repowering. Since then and until now, the ships have drained the budget of the Indonesian Navy. It is our responsibility, especially those sitting on the budget committee of the House of Representatives (DPR) to avoid the financial catastrophe by rejecting the Sukhoi deals.

The government said the deals were very cheap (about US$43 million each) though its came only with standard weaponry, while similar offers to Malaysia included upgrades and sophisticated weapons, including missiles. More importantly, since we use the Thomson radar for our Air Defense system, we identify Sukhoi as enemy planes, thus we have to modify our radar system. This will need about $70 million.

The Sukhoi is also very costly, because for every 1,000 flying hours, it must be grounded for maintenance and overhauled, and after 5,000 flying hours the engine must be replaced. Everyone in the defense industry knows the engine is the most expensive component of a fighter jet.

Maintaining four Sukhois -- of two differing types -- will be much more expensive and difficult than two squadrons of the same type of fighter jet. In other words, the Sukhoi deal was not cheap and will drain the financial resources of the state. Strategically, it is not in the best interests of the Indonesian national defense to purchase the Sukhoi.

The role of Minister Rini Suwandi and Bulog Chief Wijanarko Puspoyo should be questioned. Minister Rini has clearly violated article 16 Law No. 3/2002 on National Defense, which stipulates that the Minister of Defense has the authority in budget, recruitment, managing national resources, supervising technology and the defense industry and procuring defense and military equipment for the Armed forces.

The Sukhoi deal was not included in the 2003 defense budget approved by the legislature. It was also not included in the defense planning of 2004 for the Air Force. So, the Sukhoi deal was strategically a mistake and legally violates many laws and regulations.

However, without consulting and asking the permission of the House as required by the Constitution, Widjanarko, at the request of Rini, ordered Bank Bukopin to pay an advance of $26 million. This endangers Bank Bukopin for at least two reasons.

It firstly violates legal lending limit regulations and secondly violates the function of Bukopin, which with Bulog holds the role of stabilizer for domestic agricultural products. It is a great injustice that a large amount of money is not used to help poor farmers, but instead buy weapons.

Realizing the danger for Bukopin, on May 9, Finance Minister Boediono wrote to the House, asking for permission to use reserve funds of $77.57 million to finance the Sukhoi deal. Part of the funds would be used to reimburse the bank's money. This request is against the clear rule that the reserve funds can only be used for emergency situations, such as for military operations in Aceh or natural disasters, not for procurement of weapons.

This request, again, strongly indicates that the "counter trade" with Russia is fake and could place a serious burden on the national budget.

The violation of laws and regulations, the violation of other ministerial authority and the misuse of the budget may indicate the hidden and true motives of the Sukhoi deals. Thus, it is necessary for the House to establish a special committee on the Sukhoi deal to investigate what actually happened and what the House should recommend to the president regarding Minister Rini Suwandi and Bulog Chief Widjanarko Puspoyo.