Indonesia: The price of defence

By Dr. Terry Lacey

(June 24, Jakarta, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Indonesian military has lost seven military aircraft in six months leaving 200 dead, catching public attention in the run-up to the July 8th direct presidential elections. This has led to newspaper headlines like “Crashing to defeat with no enemy!” The Indonesian armed forces (TNI) face questions and a probable review on its role, strategic plans and financing

Army Chief of Staff General Agustadi Sasongko Purnomo has stated these accidents were not caused by insufficient budget. But Indonesian Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said the budget for maintenance and training was not enough. (Jakarta Post 13.06.09).

T. Hari Prihatono argued in The Jakarta Post in an article headed “The TNI in Crisis: Transition or termination?” (19.06.09) argued that low budget and resources have resulted in inadequate maintenance and servicing of military equipment.

He concluded that unless the state takes the Indonesian armed forces more seriously “it would find itself doing a final countdown on the TNI, leading to its termination.”

Rizal Sukma, executive director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) writing in The Jakarta Post (16.06.09) suggested a Strategic Defense Review on the role of the Indonesian armed forces given global, regional and national changes,

It should be said that the Indonesian military has adapted well to the post-Soeharto period, reducing its political role and fitting in well with the new democracy.

Moreover in Indonesia all three contending presidential pairs in the current direct elections for President and Vice President, include influential ex-generals.

The incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is an ex-general and slated to win the elections, with his Democratic Party and its Islamic allies.

The incumbent Vice President Jusuf Kalla and his business-oriented Golkar Party has teamed up with ex-general Wiranto and his People´s Conscience Party (Hanura).

The main opposition party Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) led by Megawati Sukarnoputri has teamed up with the Great Indonesia (Gerindra) led by ex-general Subianto Prabowo.

The Indonesian public is thus assured the army is playing the democratic game, whilst the army hopes its needs for modernization, equipment and a viable operational budget will be heeded.

Indonesian Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono argues in The Jakarta Post (20.06.09) that the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) has given way to new ideas. He favors a wider non-military strategy to win hearts and minds rather than a high-technology approach to counter-terrorism.

He commends the new-style Territorial Capacity Building concept, supporting economic development down to village level, especially in remote and border areas and zones previously affected by sectarian conflicts. And ideas on Asian regional defense are changing too.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd speaking at the recent Eight IISS Asia Security Dialogue in Singapore (of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies) referred to the Australia’s first Defense White Paper in nearly a decade setting out Australian views on global and regional security, for ASEAN and an ´Àsia-Pacific Community´ (APC). (Jakarta Post 03.06.09).

In the same meeting US Secretary of Defense Robert M Gates described a paradigm shift in US global defense strategy. He said the rise of Russia, China, India and Indonesia led to a search for new security architecture in the Asian region to complement longstanding US treaties with Japan and South Korea.

The new US Obama administration looks to a new mix of ¨hard¨ and ¨soft elements of national power integrating military, diplomatic, economic, cultural and humanitarian elements. (Jakarta Post 04.06.09).

Indonesian Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono, also speaking in Singapore, said he saw a generational change taking place in Indonesia, less nationalistic and more open, with younger people in government, diplomacy and business. (Jakarta Post 05.06.09).

He sees the military as helping the government to do its job properly, to deliver basic services to the Indonesian people.

There is wide support across the political spectrum that the next Indonesian government to be formed in October, after the July 8th presidential elections, should reciprocate, by making sure that the Indonesian armed forces have an adequate budget to do their job properly too.

[Terry Lacey is a development economist who writes from Jakarta on modernization in the Muslim world, investment and trade relations with the EU and Islamic banking.]

-Sri Lanka Guardian