Criticism Of Prabowo Subianto's Performance, Fact Check: Indonesian Military Ranks 53 World According To Global Peace Index

JAKARTA - In the third presidential candidate debate held by the General Elections Commission (KPU) on Sunday, January 7, Ganjar Pranowo, the third presidential candidate, expressed his concern about the decline in Indonesia's Global Peace Index value.

He noted that the peace index, military capability according to the Lowy Institute, and the proportion of Indonesia's military budget have decreased.

"Our global peace has decreased, our global military has decreased, the military capability of the Lowy Institute has decreased, the proportion of the military budget has decreased," Ganjar said in a presidential candidate debate that night.

According to data from Vision of Humanity, Indonesia's Global Peace Index (GPI) in 2023 is at 1,829, ranked 53 globally.

This GPI consists of 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators, each of which is weighted at a scale of 1-5, where lower scores sign a higher level of peace. Nevertheless, Indonesia is still lagging behind other countries such as South Korea, Britain, and Australia.

Meanwhile, Anies Baswedan, the number one presidential candidate, gave a low assessment of the performance of Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, criticizing the welfare of TNI soldiers who he said were not well paid attention to.

Anies said that problems such as the absence of official housing for TNI officers were one of the reasons for this low assessment. Anies argues that without adequate attention to their welfare, it is difficult to expect soldiers to focus on their work.

However, Anies' assessment is inversely proportional to Indonesia's military ranking in the international arena. According to Global Fire Power (GFP), Indonesia is ranked 13th strongest in the world in 2023, with a power index score of 0.2221.

This ranking places Indonesia above Egypt, Ukraine, Iran, and even Israel. In Asia, Indonesia is ranked 8th, while in Southeast Asia, the Indonesian military is ranked first as the strongest.

Indonesia's military force is considered based on more than 60 factors that determine the State Force Index or PwrIndx, ranging from the number of military units to geography.

Meanwhile, the data mentioned from the Lowly Institute Asia Data Power Index in 2023 shows that Indonesia is ranked 9, below Singapore and South Korea. Situs Lowly Institute said that Indonesia is a country with medium strength in Asia. Indonesia is one of the six countries in the region that recorded an increase in the overall score, although it was still below the pre-pandemic level.

Indonesia is the most superior in terms of resilience and diplomatic influence, where this country ranks seventh for both aspects. Meanwhile, the weakest aspect is the military capability and defense networks, where Indonesia is ranked 13th for both.

Indonesia recorded the strongest increase in resilience aspects, in which the country rose three places to the seventh. Indonesia's diplomatic influence continues to show strong growth, reflecting its important role in ASEAN and hosting the G20 in 2022.