Prabowo Spokesperson Annoyed That The IDR 1.760 Trillion Defense Equipment Budget Leaked, Ministry Of Defense Is Hunting The Document Disseminator

JAKARTA - Spokesman for the Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto, Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak regretted the distribution of the draft presidential regulation (perpres) regarding the defense and security tools of the Ministry of Defense and the National Army (TNI) (Alpahankam) for 2020-2024.

In the document, written the numbers needed to buy defense equipment worth USD 124.995.000. If converted in rupiah, the amount is around IDR 1.760 trillion (IDR 1.7 quadrillion).

In the regulation draft, it is stated that the Ministry of Defense will borrow money from other countries. The loan plan has also been stated in this Presidential Regulation draft.

Dahnil said that the Presidential Regulation meeting (Raperpres) regarding the defense equipment budget document is still in the process of in-depth discussion and testing, it is not and has not become a final decision.

"The defense planning document is part of a state secret and an internal document under ongoing discussions, so we regret that there are parties who leaked it", said Dahnil in his statement, Monday, May 31.

Dahnil alleged that the leaker's motive was to use the document as a tool to develop political hatred. Dahnil said that his party would find out who the leak was.

"Of course the Ministry of Defense will take a firm stance to investigate who is responsible for distributing the document so that it becomes confusing in the public", he said.

According to Dahnil, in accordance with President Jokowi's directives, Prabowo wants to buy a more modern alpahankam. This is because 60 percent of Indonesia's alpahankam is obsolete.

"Thus, the modernization of the defense and security system is a necessity, because a strong defense related to the sovereignty of the state and the territorial integrity of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia and the safety of the nation must be maintained in the long term. Therefore, the Ministry of Defense proposes a formula for modernizing the defense security system through the reorganization of spending and financing of defense security and defense", Dahnil explained.

In addition, the financing needed is still under discussion and comes from foreign loans. The value, said Dahnil, will certainly not burden the state budget.

"In a sense, it will not reduce the allocation of other expenditures in the state budget which are national development priorities", said Dahnil.

"Why? Because the loans that are likely to be given by several countries are given in long tenors and the interest is very low, and the payment process uses the Ministry of Defense budget allocation which is already allocated in the State Budget, assuming the Ministry of Defense's budget allocation in the State Budget is consistent around 0.8% of GDP over the next 25 years".