GOVT URGED TO AUDIT TNI

Jakarta, June 13 (ANTARA) - House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Agung Laksono urged the government to carry out auditing on the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) following several accidents befalling its aircraft.

"We should not hesitate to do such a thing on the military. The TNI must be open and transparent," the House speaker said in response to the crash of an Air Force Puma helicopter in West Java on Friday.

He said that an overall auditing needed to be carried out on the military institution. "I think we have to carry out an overall auditing on the institution first, so that we can take follow-up steps if irregularities are found," Laksono said when asked whether or not officers in the TNI top brass also needed to be audited.

Hover, the public should not be suspicious in the first place. "We may not be suspicious. It would be better if we carry out auditing first," he added.

Laksono expressed concern over the fact that tens of aircraft had crashed over the past several years. Therefore, he suggested that all equipment should be returned to the basic air, land and sea transportation maintenance and preservation systems.

"The government should carry out overall auditing on the condition of the TNI's main armament system while conducting procurement in stages for replacement," the DPR chairman said.

He admitted that the government's financial condition was limited but the House had tried its best to approve additional allocation for the TNI in the 2010 budget.

"We hope that the additional budget would be able to meet the need for military equipment which are now already aging. We also ask that the aging equipment should be maintained well. Maintenance admittedly needs the availability of adequate funds," he stressed.

An Air Force Puma helicopter crashed at the Atang Sendjaya airbase in Bogor, West Java, on Friday killing two and injuring five of the seven servicemen on board. The helicopter crashed only four days after a Bolkow BO-105 helicopter crashed in South Cianjur, West Java, on Monday (June 8).