Two new warships head to Aceh to curb gunrunning

Two new warships head to Aceh to curb gunrunning

Tiarma Siboro and Arya Abhiseka, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Navy has added three new warships to its fleet,
two of which will be sent to Aceh waters in an apparent move to
increase the military's presence in the troubled province.

With the commissioning of the three new warships, the KRI
Lemadang, KRI Kobra and the KRI Anakonda, the Navy now has 120
warships in its fleet.

Currently, the Navy has 10 ships patrolling off Aceh waters so
as to prevent the smuggling of arms to the separatist Free Aceh
Movement (GAM).

"Two of these new warships, namely the KRI Lemadang and KRI
Anakonda, will also sail to Aceh tomorrow to guard the province
against gun-running," Endriartono told the media after presiding
over the commissioning ceremony for the new vessels.

Among those present at the ceremony, held at the Navy's
Maritime Operations Command Headquarters at Tanjung Priok Port in
North Jakarta on Monday, were Navy chief Adm. Bernard Kent
Sondakh, the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) chief
Lt. Gen. Bibit Waluyo and the commander of the Navy's Western
Fleet Rear Adm. Mualimin Santosa.

The sending of the two vessels to Aceh comes amid the
military's preparations for a new operation in Aceh following
President Megawati Soekarnoputri's call for the Indonesian
Military and National Police to be ready for action in Aceh
should the current peace deal with GAM fail.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has accused GAM of violating the peace
accord signed in December last year by increasing its military's
strength and campaigning for Aceh's independence.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu also claimed that
GAM had recruited more fighters since December, raising its
fighting strength to 5,000 men, and was still engaged in arms
smuggling, instead of disarming.

GAM has denied the government and military accusations, and
charged the military with trying to sabotage the peace process.

Endriartono refused to comment on whether the deployment of
the two warships to Aceh was in preparation for a military
operation there, saying that "I will brief the President about it
(the military operation) sometime this week."

Meanwhile, Navy chief Bernard Sondakh said that the
commissioning of the new warships was designed to increase the
Navy's ability to protect the country against widespread piracy,
smuggling and illegal fishing.

With a total of 40,000 personnel, including 1,000 in the Naval
Air Service and 12,000 Marines, the Navy has long been
complaining about a lack of up-to-date hardware.

TNI data shows that only 30 percent of Navy's 117 ships are
seaworthy.

As part of an effort to improve the Navy's performance, TNI
leaders have agreed to pay more attention to the defense of
Indonesia's territorial waters by increasing the Navy's budget
allocation this year.

According to the TNI, the Navy will receive Rp 700 billion
(US$77 million) this year to procure weapons and equipment -- Rp
100 billion more than the budgets allocated to the Army and the
Air Force -- in a bid to improve its ability to guard the
national territory.

This year's TNI budget stands at Rp 13.9 trillion, a 27
percent increase over last year's budget of Rp 11 trillion.
However, most of the money is spent on paying soldiers' wages.
This year, TNI headquarters has allocated Rp 11.5 trillion of the
Rp 13.9 trillion budget for wages alone.

This focus of this year's TNI procurement budget has shifted
from the Army to the Navy and Air Force following on from the
surrender of most of the Army's domestic security duties to the
police.