ID :
61966
Fri, 05/22/2009 - 19:08
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/61966
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DEFENSE BUDGET TOO SMALL: LEGISLATOR
Jakarta, May 22 (ANTARA) - The funds made available for defense budget and the maintenance of the country's main armament system (Alutsista) are to small so that the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) are facing a lot of crucial problems, a legislator said.
"The causes of the Hercules plane crash in East Java have yet to be revealed but this should not necessarily lead the government to ignore the fact that the defense budget is too small and ridiculous," Yssron Ihza Mahendra, deputy chairman of House Commission I for defense affairs, said.
He said that he was a person who always chaired the House meeting for the approval of a defense budget so that he knew well the details of the amount of the defense budget.
Mahendra made the statement in response to the public debate over the causes of a series of accidents befalling TNI planes, including the Hercules crash which killed about 100 soldiers and civilian passengers in a village in Magetan district, East Java, on Wednesday.
"For 2009, the ministry of defense has proposed a minimum defense budget amounting to Rp127 trillion, but the government approved only Rp33.6 trillioin, or about 16 percent," Mahendra said.
He said that of the approved budget, some Rp27 trillion were allocated for defense personnel's salaries and office costs so that the remaining one which was to be used to rejuvenate and finance the maintenance of the country's Alutsista was too small.
The Commission I deputy chairman said that with the frequent airplane accidents the government should have learned a lesson and should not kick a fuss only when an accident took place then it sank into oblivion once the accident had passed.
On the occasion, Mahendra said that it was true if Indonesia was not yet able to produce a Hercules plane of its own. "But we actually are able to produce other kinds of Alutsista equipment to support the need of the Air Force, Navy and Army such as armored vehicles, helicopters and other equipment.
The problem was that so far the government support for the development of defense industry at home was too small.
"We have the impression that the ministry of defense is fond of spending foreign exchange to import Alutsista equipment in stead of ordering ones from domestic industries. It would even prefer to spend foreign exchange only to repair warships or fighter planes," he said.
He said that the government would prefer to import even if they were only ammunitions and hand-guns for police.
The meeting between Commission I and a number of state-owned strategic industries last week revealed clearly the government's less support of the national defense industries, he said.
"Not only that, the government has for years not made any blue print on national defense development. It means that our Alutsista is being developed without proper planning," he added.***1***
"The causes of the Hercules plane crash in East Java have yet to be revealed but this should not necessarily lead the government to ignore the fact that the defense budget is too small and ridiculous," Yssron Ihza Mahendra, deputy chairman of House Commission I for defense affairs, said.
He said that he was a person who always chaired the House meeting for the approval of a defense budget so that he knew well the details of the amount of the defense budget.
Mahendra made the statement in response to the public debate over the causes of a series of accidents befalling TNI planes, including the Hercules crash which killed about 100 soldiers and civilian passengers in a village in Magetan district, East Java, on Wednesday.
"For 2009, the ministry of defense has proposed a minimum defense budget amounting to Rp127 trillion, but the government approved only Rp33.6 trillioin, or about 16 percent," Mahendra said.
He said that of the approved budget, some Rp27 trillion were allocated for defense personnel's salaries and office costs so that the remaining one which was to be used to rejuvenate and finance the maintenance of the country's Alutsista was too small.
The Commission I deputy chairman said that with the frequent airplane accidents the government should have learned a lesson and should not kick a fuss only when an accident took place then it sank into oblivion once the accident had passed.
On the occasion, Mahendra said that it was true if Indonesia was not yet able to produce a Hercules plane of its own. "But we actually are able to produce other kinds of Alutsista equipment to support the need of the Air Force, Navy and Army such as armored vehicles, helicopters and other equipment.
The problem was that so far the government support for the development of defense industry at home was too small.
"We have the impression that the ministry of defense is fond of spending foreign exchange to import Alutsista equipment in stead of ordering ones from domestic industries. It would even prefer to spend foreign exchange only to repair warships or fighter planes," he said.
He said that the government would prefer to import even if they were only ammunitions and hand-guns for police.
The meeting between Commission I and a number of state-owned strategic industries last week revealed clearly the government's less support of the national defense industries, he said.
"Not only that, the government has for years not made any blue print on national defense development. It means that our Alutsista is being developed without proper planning," he added.***1***
