Ferry Irwanto, April Aswadi, Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Febriamy Hutapea – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono acknowledged the need to increase the nation's defense budget, following criticism that budgetary shortfalls for the maintenance of military equipment were at the root of the crash of an Air Force Hercules C-130 transport plane in East Java last Wednesday that killed 101 people.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Monday that the government should increase the defense budget once the global economic crisis ended to meet the minimum operational requirements of the Armed Forces.

Yudhoyono acknowledged the current defense budget was well below ideal levels.

"God willing, after we pass through the [global economic] crisis this year and next year, we can increase the budget," he said during an inspection of a Presidential Security Forces residential development in Bogor, West Java.

"Whoever the next president will be, we hope the budget can be drawn closer to the essential amount needed to fund the 'minimum essential forces,'?" he said.

While acknowledging that the 2009 defense budget of Rp 33 trillion ($3.2 billion) remains far bellow the minimum required for the military's operational needs, Yudhoyono said, "I ask the forces to use the budget efficiently, whether for operations, education, training, maintenance, personnel welfare or procurement."

His comments followed recent criticism in the media by politicians and analysts that budgetary shortfalls for the maintenance of military equipment were at the root of the crash of an Air Force Hercules C-130 transport plane in East Java last Wednesday that killed 101 people. The cause of the crash, the Air Force's second deadly accident in two months, remains under investigation.

Separately, Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said on Monday that the ministry would attempt to increase the 2009 weapons and equipment maintenance budgets for each of the Armed Forces' three branches from the current Rp 600 billion back to Rp 700 billion, which was the allocation for 2008.

Juwono also said he hoped the 2010 maintenance budget for each branch would be increased to Rp 1 trillion.

"That is the minimum essential funding for 'minimum essential forces,' so that the safety of the weapon systems... of the Air Force, Army and Navy are totally supported by the budget," he said, noting that the ministry and Armed Forces were aware of the government's decision to keep defense and security spending to 25 percent of the state budget.

Muladi, governor of the National Resilience Institute, a government-run defense think tank, claimed that lack of money had led to inadequate maintenance and poor training of military personnel, ultimately causing the recent crashes of military aircraft.

"The root is because of the minimum budget for military forces, which was allocated by the government and the House of Representatives," he said.

Muladi noted that Indonesia's military strength was below that of other Asean countries. "So far, the government only talks about pro-poor or pro-jobs [programs], but the fact is that pro-defense programs are no less important," he said.