PRESIDENT URGED TO ISSUE REGULATION ON ADDITIONAL MILITARY BUDGET

Semarang, C Java, June 13 (ANTARA) - A legislator urged the government to issue a government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) on the provision of additional budget for the maintenance and preservation of main military equipment (Alutsista).

"We are now in an emergency situation. The president must soon issue a Perppu in order to develop the military Alutsista," Ali Mochtar Ngagalin of the House Commission I for defense affairs said.

He said that there was no single country in the world which would witness two aircraft crashes of its single institution in a week.

He was referring to an Air Force helicopter crash in West Java on Friday.

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, 2009).

"Our best soldiers died not in the battle field but in plane crashes," Ngabalin said.

Therefore, the House Commission I will accordingly support it if President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued a Perppu on the budget to handle the military Alutsista.

He also called on the relevant parties to ground all aging aircraft for checking. At the same time, new airplanes have to be procured for their replacement during the transitional period.

"There are funds at the banks. We can borrow money with a condition that the government provides a guarantee," he said.

Ngabalin said that in the case of the 10,000 MW power plant project crash program, the government was ready to provide a guarantee for their development. It can do the same thing in the interest of the country's Alutsista.

In the meantime, House of Representatives (DPR)Speaker Agung Laksono also urged the government to carry out auditing on the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI).

"We should not hesitate to do such 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.