Jakarta – The Armed Forces (ABRI) made a surprising decision yesterday to delay all planned arms purchases, including the Russian Sukhoi30K jet fighters.
Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. A. Wahab Mokodongan told journalists that the monetary crisis had forced the military to cut its spending. "This move will save us about US$20 billion (sic)," he said, adding that the Armed Forces would ask the government to delay the procurement of the jet fighters and other military equipment in the wake of the economic crisis.
The Indonesian government in August opted to buy 12 Sukhoi-30K jet fighters and eight MI-17-IV helicopters from Russia to modernize its air defense system. It switched to the Russian fighters after canceling the planned purchase of nine American-made F- 16 jet fighters which, according to Jakarta, had been continuously linked to human rights issues. The first batch of the Sukhoi fighters was expected to be delivered early this year.
The Armed Forces also decided to delay the procurement of the remaining three of the five submarines, which had been ordered from Germany. The first two submarines were delivered last September.
Wahab did not say how long the purchases would be suspended.
The austerity measures were taken following an ABRI top brass meeting yesterday morning. The meeting also decided to gradually reduce the number of Indonesian military attache posts at Indonesian representative offices abroad by 70 percent. The meeting further decided to scale-down or cancel various military functions, ceremonies and trips abroad and nationwide. It was also decided that all large-scale military exercises requiring a huge budget would be scrapped or downgraded.
When asked whether this meant that the military's state of readiness would lessen, Wahab said that the Armed Forces would still be in full control of any arising situation. He said the Armed Forces headquarters still perceived the situation was stable and within their control. "Our troops will be ready in two to four hours, whenever the situation gets worse," he said.
"We are always prepared for the worst possible situation."
He warned that the Armed Forces would use a repressive approach if the situation got out of control but added that "this would only be the last resort".