Febriamy Hutapea & Markus Junianto Sihaloho

Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono on Tuesday criticized the decision to increase defense spending saying it was far less than he expected. (Photo: Safir Makki, JG)

Defense Minister Raps Budget Rise

The House of Representatives budget committee agreed on Tuesday to raise defense spending by 8.5 percent next year, a figure immediately criticized by Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono, who said it was far less than he had expected.

The Rp 2.8 trillion ($274 million) increase is the second-highest for any ministry after education, but far less than the Rp 7 trillion to Rp 10 trillion approved last week by House Commission I, which oversees defense.

“I hope the decision is not final,” a visibly upset Juwono told reporters after learning of the decision, “and we still hope that the figure that will be approved is the figure that had been agreed upon with the House defense commission.”

Juwono had just come from a meeting with the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) to discuss the recent Ambalat territorial dispute with Malaysia.

The budget commission’s decision came a day after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered a full audit of budget expenditure and a technical inspection of all Armed Forces weapons systems after four military aircraft crashed between April and early June, killing 132 military personnel and civilians. The crashes and relatively low defense budget have become campaign ammunition for Yudhoyono’s opponents in the July 8 presidential election.

Indonesia ranks 50th in the world in terms of military expenditure, according to the CIA’s World Factbook, and Yudhoyono acknowledged last week that the current defense budget of Rp 33 trillion was too small.

Juwono said the additional allocation for 2010 would be used for the maintenance and service of military aircraft, rather than buying new equipment as had been tentatively planned.

“Our focus is to protect the technical safety and security of military aircraft, and therefore it should be supported with the proper budget,” he said.

Juwono said the Defense Ministry had already started to audit maintenance budgets for equipment, which will last through July, and that the results would be used to determine priority areas for more attention and funding.

Juwono said that although audits were routinely performed by the Armed Forces, the Defense Ministry would look closely at funds allocated for equipment maintenance. If any irregularities are found in the budget allocations, Armed Forces Chief Gen. Djoko Santoso will then act on them.

Suripto, a legislative member from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said he hoped the audit would expose any possible misconduct by Defense Ministry or military officials and equipment vendors.

“If there’s no transparency, the potential for corruption can be huge,” Suripto said. “So, the audit is good for revealing potential graft cases.”

Separately, Djoko said the military had established a joint team to conduct the audit, which was expanded to include military facilities, maintenance procedures and pilot training.

Speaking from Bandung, Djoko said the military had already drafted a plan to buy new equipment long before the recent accidents. He said the plan outlined which aircraft should be grounded, such as the Air Force’s 1960s-era OV-10 Bronco, and which planes could still be used for operations.

The plan also called for the purchase of Sukhoi jet fighters, MI-17 and MI-35 military helicopters from Russia and a corvette naval warship from the Netherlands, Djoko said.

“But to put the plan in action, we faced problems caused by the drawn-out procedures of budgeting, negotiation and administrative affairs in the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Finance,” he said.

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