Jakarta – Indonesia will increase its budget for the armed forces from Rp14.7 trillion (RM6.1 billion) to Rp23 trillion (RM9.6 billion) aimed at, among others, improving the effectiveness of measures taken against illegal logging, illegal fishing, smuggling and human trafficking.
State Enterprises Minister Sugiharto said that in addition, the significant increase in the military budget would also be used to improve the wellbeing of military personnel and for purchasing operational equipment.
"At the moment, 70 percent of the timber in Malaysia and the Philippines originated from Indonesia," he said, declining to disclose the actual allocation for the purpose of preventing illegal tree felling and log smuggling.
He was quoted by the daily "Media Indonesia" Wednesday as saying that there were hundreds of exit points for the smuggling of timber.
As such, he said, Indonesia had initiated cooperation with Malaysia lately by limiting the entry terminals for timber into Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono said the budget estimates for the Defence Ministry, however, had yet to be finalised.
He said that so far, the government allocation for the Indonesian navy and air force had only reached 40 percent of the amount required for their operations while the allocation for the army and the police had reached only 70 percent and 90 percent of the requirement respectively.
National Development Planning Minister Sri Mulyani, meanwhile, said under the Indonesian budget for 2005, the government allocation of Rp21 trillion (RM8.8 billion) for defence and public order would be increased to raise capacity in maintaining security and peace.
"For the year 2005, we will raise the budget estimates but would ensure that the deficit (in the national budget) would remain between 0.8 and one percent," he said.
The ministers had earlier held a closed-door meeting at the Finance Ministry here to discuss the budget estimates for the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) which was also attended by TNI commander Endriartono Sutarto and Minister for Economic Coordination Aburizal Bakrie.