The House and the controversial 'Sukhoigate;' deal

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.