TNI told to focus on Navy, Air Force development
TNI told to focus on Navy, Air Force development
Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Given that external security threats are likely to come via the
air and the sea, the Indonesian Military (TNI) should allocate a
larger amount of funds to the Navy and the Air Force rather than
the Army, noted military analysts argued on Monday.
They said that since former president Soeharto came to power
in 1967, the Army, with around 230,000 men, had received the
lion's share of annual state budget allocations to the military.
"This should be ended as the TNI has to concentrate on its
duties of anticipating the sort of external security threats that
could come via the territorial waters or the airspace of our
country," military observer Kusnanto Anggoro told The Jakarta
Post.
Under the 2002 state budget, the military has been allotted Rp
9.5 trillion (US$1.05 million), about 75 percent of which will be
used to pay soldiers' wages. Meanwhile, the maintenance and
modernization of the TNI's weaponry is currently bearing the
brunt of the shortfall in funds.
The TNI comprises 230,000 members of the Army, 40,000 members
of the Navy and 27,000 members of the Air Force. It has 117 ships
operated by the Navy, but 70 of them are tied up while 64 percent
of the Air Force's 220 aircraft are grounded.
Kusnanto, from the Centre for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS), said he believed that most of the current budget
allocated to the TNI would continue to be used to finance the
operational activities of the powerful Army.
This meant that the military would still be focusing on
building up defense and surveillance against internal security
threats, such as separatism, which, actually, was mainly the
responsibility of the National Police, Kusnanto said.
He criticized the move to provide more funds for the Army as
at least 60 percent of its soldiers in the regional commands were
not combat-ready, but were rather engaged in administrative
duties.
After the police force was officially separated from the TNI
last year, the TNI was assigned the task of focusing on defense
against external threats, not internal security affairs.
Another military analyst, Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, said that for the
next five to 10 years the TNI seemed not to be seriously
considering defense measures aimed at countering possible threats
from abroad.
"Consequently, most of the TNI's budget will continue to be
allotted to the Army," Ikrar said.
However, Maj. Gen. Sudrajat, director-general of strategic
defense at the Ministry of Defense, claimed that the budget
allocations for the Army, Air Force and Navy were "almost equal".
He declined to elaborate further.
He admitted that most of the funds would be spent on the TNI's
routine costs, a large part of which went on the payment of
soldiers' wages.
Ikrar, from the National Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said
TNI leaders were still divided about whether to focus on
anticipating internal or external threats.
But he stressed that the vested interests of generals had
often contributed to their different points of view in deciding
defense policy.
"Compared to Thailand, which is not a archipelagic country,
Indonesia's speed in developing the arsenals of its Navy and Air
Force has been very slow," Ikrar said.
A similar opinion was voiced by senior military observer Salim
Said, who said that external-oriented defense should have been
given priority by the military after it was split from the
police.
"Considering that the maintenance or procurement of Navy
warships and Air Force fighter planes as well as other weaponry
is so expensive, why should the Army get a bigger allocation of
the funds from the TNI?" he queried.
Despite the huge funds allocated to the TNI, generals have
claimed that the Rp 9.5 trillion budget would be enough to cover
only 30 percent of its routine and development expenses.
The shortfall of 70 percent would be covered by the profits
from the military's obscure businesses, which many observers
want to see scrapped or brought into the public domain.