Jakarta – The government will purchase arms from local vendors and cover all the outlay involved, a coordinating meeting between the Defense Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Industry Ministry, the State Ministry for Research and Technology, the State Ministry for State-owned Enterprises and the Indonesian Military concluded Wednesday.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who chaired the meeting, said the funding for arms purchases, which could amount to US$3.7 billion, would be taken from the government's export credit fund.
Kalla said the decision had been made as part of the government's efforts to develop a homegrown weapons industry and reduce the country's dependency on foreign vendors.
"We want to see all the weapons that can be manufactured here actually being made here. If we can't do it now, we will engage in more research and development to make it possible," Kalla said after the meeting at the Defense Ministry, as quoted by Detik.com.
The Vice President said the exact details of how much the government would spend on arms purchases from local vendors would be decided on within the next month.
Also present at the meeting were Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo A.S., Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Minister of Industry Fahmi Idris, State Minister for Research and Technology Kusmayanto Kadiman, State Minister for State-owned Enterprises Soegiharto, TNI commander Air Chief Marshal Djoko Suyanto, and the chiefs of staff of the three branches of the military.
However, the meeting did not decide on what types of arms would be purchased from local vendors.
Juwono said the Defense Ministry and TNI Headquarters would work out the details of what types of arms and the quantities that would be ordered by the government.
He said that the decision to purchase arms from local vendors was aimed at developing the local defense industry.
"We will make efforts to encourage strategic industries and private firms to work together to develop a domestic defense industry," Juwono was quoted by Detik.com as saying.
However, Juwono said the government was not aiming for the development of a heavy armaments industry, but was rather focusing on the development of a mid-level one.
"Jet fighters, submarines, large-caliber canon are all beyond the capabilities of local industry. What we agreed on was mid-level technology in transportation," Juwono said.
Indonesia's defense systems have long been at the mercy of foreign vendors, and politics has at times disrupted the delivery of armaments.
Following the arms embargo imposed by the United States, the government looked to countries in Europe for the supply of new weapons. The embargo was lifted in 2005.