JAKARTA - Minister of Defense (Menhan), Prabowo Subianto visited the Domestic Defense and Security Equipment Industry Exhibition (Alpalhankam) at the Office yard, Kemhan, Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat. The exhibition was attended by 25 domestic private Alpalhankam industries.
Prabowo was seen wearing a beige safari outfit complete with a cowboy hat. Also seen accompanying Prabowo, Deputy Minister of Defense (Wamenhan) Wahyu Sakti Trenggono. The two of them were seen visiting the defenses one by one on display.
Some of the defenses visited by Prabowo and Trenggono included Missile Target Drone Starling, Lightning Missiles, Large Target Drones , and several Field Kitchen Vehicles or Randurlap.
After looking at the means of defense, the former Kopassus Danjen said that the defense industry from the private sector had advanced although there was still further research to perfect it.
"There are parts that we still have to carry out more R&D. But, God willing, I am optimistic that our (defense industry) will be more independent in five years from now, standing on its own feet," Prabowo told reporters at the Ministry of Defense's office, Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat. , Tuesday, December 3.
Together with his deputy, Prabowo said he was assigned by President Joko Widodo to increase the role of the domestic defense industry in the procurement of defense equipment. This needs to be done in the interests of national defense.
He also asked that there be no more dichotomy between state-owned and private defense industries. Moreover, Law No. 16/2012 states that the private sector is not prioritized in defense equipment manufacturers.
"I said earlier that we should not think about the national domain, the private sector, we are all children of the nation. The private sector is a vital part of our economy, BUMN and the private sector must work together, later we can find a formula," he said.
On that occasion, Prabowo also sought an increase in the budget. This is because the current budget is less than one percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) which in 2018 reached IDR 14,837.4 trillion.
When compared to countries in Southeast Asia, Prabowo said, Indonesia's current defense budget is smaller than other countries - without mentioning the name of the country -.
In fact, a large defense budget is deemed necessary, to ensure sovereignty and ensure that no state assets are stolen by other countries.
"Our budget in Southeast Asia is the smallest compared to our neighboring countries. We do not reach one percent of our GDP, of our gross domestic production. We are only around 0.8 percent," he concluded.
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