Indonesia to develop defense systems

Indonesia is set to modernize its primary defense systems (alutsista) in order to strengthen the
country's defense capabilities.

In a limited meeting held at the Presidential Office in Jakarta on Monday, President Joko "Jokowi"
Widodo said Indonesia’s current defense budget amounted to 1.1 percent of the country’s gross
domestic product (GDP), slightly up from previous allocations of 0.89 percent of GDP in 2015 and
0.79 percent in 2014.

Jokowi added that with targeted economic growth of 6 percent, Indonesia’s defense budgetary
allocation would increase to 1.5 percent of GDP, worth around Rp 250 trillion (US$18.66 billion).

"It’s a very large amount. This should be anticipated from now on. There should be proper and
detailed planning so the budget allocation will be well-targeted and well-planned from the very
beginning," Jokowi said.

With such defense system development, he hoped the Indonesian Military would be ready to
anticipate threats in the future as geographically, two-thirds of the country’s territorial area was sea.
Such a geographical situation would affect the constellation of warfare in the future, the President
said.

"I’m really aware that to build a professional and respected Indonesian Military, we should be able to
meet our defense equipment requirements" he added.

Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said the country's defenses needed to be developed to protect
the archipelago.

"The President wants to know the strength of military capacity needed to secure and maintain the
vast territory of this country. Moreover, we know Indonesia is an archipelagic country; so, early
readiness of our defenses is very important," he told reporters. (ebf)