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.