Minister of Defense Ryamizard Ryacudu Emphasizes Indonesia is Capable of Fighting for 1,000 Years in Memory Today, January 16, 2019

JAKARTA - Remembering today, seven years ago, January 16, 2019, the Minister of Defense (Menhan), Ryamizard Ryacudu emphasized that Indonesia was capable of fighting for 1,000 years. The statement was revealed while revising his statement before becoming Joko Widodo's (Jokowi) minister that Indonesia could only survive for three days during the war.

Previously, Prabowo Subianto often criticized Indonesia's security. The national figure considers Indonesia's defense sector to be weaker. Indonesia can only survive three days in a security crisis.

Prabowo Subianto was once the opposition in the first Jokowi administration. The national figure often spoke out when there was a government policy that was not right. He often considered Jokowi's government to be incompetent.

This belief is stronger when Prabowo gets data that 80 percent of Indonesian land is only owned by 1 percent of the people. This means that most Indonesians do not have access to land.

Not to mention, Prabowo often criticizes the fragile state of security under Jokowi's leadership. Prabowo even asserted that Indonesia would break up in 2030. He predicted this in 2017.

All of this is because Prabowo has just read a book from global security issue researchers, PW Singer and August Cole. The two are known to write their predictions in a novel titled Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War (2015) which is the estuary of Prabowo's predictions.

Prabowo considers that there are signs of prediction. Prabowo believes that there are many Indonesian wealth that are enjoyed by foreign nations. People are getting poorer. He also assessed that the government failed to prevent corruption. A series of government incompetence is considered to be fatal.

This statement was again revealed by Prabowo when he officially nominated himself as a presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential election. Prabowo tried to highlight the weakness of Indonesia's security sector. The armed forces are considered to have a weak position.

Prabowo also tried to quote the statement from the Minister of Defense, Ryamizard Ryacudu, to support his view. Ryamizard is considered to have confirmed that Indonesia can only survive for three days during a war.

"The Minister of Defense himself said that if there is a war in the Republic of Indonesia, we can only fight for three days. Later he (Ryamizard) will also be reshuffled. If he says the truth, he will be removed. No, no. Our friend is always talking about what is. "

"We don't want to be a hero, we want to defend ourselves. We need a strong navy to protect our wealth that is lost Rp3.000 trillion every year. How do we want to chase those boats that steal our fish? Our territory is 28 European countries. But we have not revealed that. If we want to be prosperous, we must be strong to protect our wealth," said Prabowo as quoted by lamandetik.com, September 22, 2018.

Prabowo's statement quoting Ryamizard became a polemic. Moreover, the statement was repeatedly repeated by Prabowo even at the beginning of the new year 2019. As a result, Ryamizard was criticized because the Minister of Defense should have a role in strengthening Indonesia's defense.

Ryamizard immediately revealed his clarification on January 16, 2019. He revealed that Prabowo's quoted statement was not a statement when he served as the Minister of Defense in the Jokowi era. Ryamizard confirmed that the view was delivered 10 or 12 years ago because of a shortage of oil.

As a result, the scarcity of fuel made Indonesia unable to last long in the war. He also emphasized that the condition of the Indonesian military's strength in the Jokowi era was very different. Ryamizard considers that it is not just three days, Indonesia is ready to fight for 1,000 years.

Instead of silencing criticism, Ryamizard's statement also flooded with criticism. Many consider Ryamizard's statement to be absurd and unreasonable. No country is capable of continuing to fight for a long time, let alone 1,000 years.

"That was when I had a discussion, maybe 10 years ago, that was the problem of oil. If we have a big war, the oil is gone. We can have a protracted war, we can have a 1,000-year war, we can. Understand, this is not cut and dried, we can have a protracted war for 1,000 years," said Ryamizard, as quoted by the lamankompas.com page, January 16, 2019.