Critics have called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to cancel plans to purchase a private presidential plane.

The $58 million purchase – called an Indonesian Air Force One – will only add to the nation's growing debt, said the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra).

The forum's coordinator Ucok Sky Khadafi told SCTV that Indonesia's foreign debt reached $214.5 billion by the first quarter of 2011, a $10 billion increase over last year's total.

"We are asking [Yudhoyono] to call off the plan to buy a presidential plane. It is a pride to have a plane but the pride will be gone when it has to be purchased from foreign debt," Ucok said.

Fitra has also asked the House of Representatives' Commission II to put pressures on the government to cancel the plane. "This country will lose its self respect if we insist on buying a debt-funded plane," he said.

But plans to buy a presidential plane have already been approved by the government and legislature, said Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo in June.

Still, don't expect to see Yudhoyono's private plane take to the skies anytime soon. It will be two years before the plan takes off, Agus said. "It is true that the budget has been allocated, but it will take time to complete the plane," Agus said.

Agus said the plane was an "urgent need" that could significantly reduce the cost of presidential trips.

"Indonesia is a huge country," he said. "If the president uses a commercial plane that has been modified into a presidential plane, it is a very inefficient use of the airliner. Besides, it is very costly if commercial fares apply to any [presidential] trip."

The president now travels on a plane leased from Garuda Indonesia at a cost of Rp 900 billion ($106 million) for a five-year period.