Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – In a bid to create a strong and modern military, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is contemplating up to a five fold increase in defense spending to an "ideal level" of 3-5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) compared to the current 1 percent.
Speaking at the opening of a seminar on developing the national defense industry on Wednesday, Susilo described the country's defense system as "under-strength, under-funded and under-capacity" to confront the various potential threats facing the archipelago.
"The time has come for this country to have sophisticated weapons system," said the retired army general, without specifying any time frames.
"Political will alone is not enough, because the aim of achieving an ideal defense system will also depend on the availability of funds, which in turn will depend upon the country's economic performance," he added.
He explained that one of the benefits of having a modern military was the ability of the nation to better cope with major natural disasters such as the tsunami in Aceh, where the country was forced to rely on foreign military because of the Indonesian military's limited equipment, especially helicopters.
"Our Air Force could only get nine aircraft into the air to help (tsunami) survivors, evacuate victims, and distribute aid, while foreign forces, within a matter of minutes, were able to supply twice as much military equipment, and were able to immediately carry out relief efforts," he said.
"Poor weapons systems are also causing difficulties for our soldiers in quelling the guerrillas in Aceh. If we had more sophisticated weaponry, I'm sure our security operations would be more effective there," he said, at time when his top ministers are heading to Finland for peace talks with leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in a bid to seek a peaceful solution to the decades-long conflict.
The defense budget of the world's fourth most populous country is considered low even compared to smaller neighboring countries such as Thailand and Malaysia, which a few years ago had already achieved a defense budget of more than 2 percent of GDP.
Indonesia has a 400,000-strong military. But much of its military equipment is in poor condition. For instance, Indonesia has two squadrons of Hercules aircraft, but only 40 of them are airworthy. This is often used by the TNI as a reason for their slow response in sending troops and humanitarian aid to remote areas hit by security disturbances or natural disasters.
Some experts at the seminar suggested that the country should start reducing its dependence on foreign supplies of military equipment by pushing local companies to produce such supplies.
President of Bandung-based arms producer PT Pindad, Budi Santoso, gave a presentation on the company's capability in developing a certain type of rocket as well as modern tanks, but they were facing funding constraints.
"We are now seeking partnerships with foreign companies," Budi said.
It has been reported that some eastern European countries, as well as neighboring ASEAN countries, had proposed cooperation in developing defense industries, but the ministry's director general of defense strategy, Sudrajat, repeatedly said that "all the deals required us to provide huge funds." For the 2005 fiscal year, the government has allocated Rp 21 trillion (US$2.3 billion) for defense expenditure, accounting for only 6 percent of the state budget.