Mahfud MD: President Orders To Complete Cases Of Alleged Violations Of Law On The Ministry Of Defense Satellite Project

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD accompanied by Attorney General ST Burhanuddin (YouTube screenshot of the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs) (Photo: Syaiful Hakim/Antara)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo has ordered that cases of alleged violations of the Ministry of Defense satellite law that cost the state more than Rp800 billion should be thoroughly investigated.

"The president ordered me to continue and resolve this case," said Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD during a press conference at the Office of the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Jakarta, Thursday, which was broadcast on the Youtube of the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, as reported by Antara, Wednesday, January 13th.

Mahfud explained that the government had held several meetings to discuss the issue.

In fact, Mahfud has coordinated with Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, Communication and Information Minister Johnny G Plate, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, TNI Commander General Andika Perkasa, and Attorney General ST Burhanuddin.

The Ministry of Defense satellite project took place in 2015, at which time the Ministry of Defense was led by Ryamizard Ryacudu. The project is related to satellite management for the orbital slot of 123 degrees East Longitude.

He explained that on January 19, 2015, the Garuda-1 satellite had left its orbital slot of 123 degrees East Longitude (BT), resulting in a vacancy in Indonesia's management.

Based on the regulations of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), countries that have obtained management rights will be given three years to fill out their orbital slots. If it is not fulfilled, the right to manage orbital slots will automatically expire and can be used by other countries.

To fill the vacancy in managing the orbital slot of 123 degrees east longitude, said Mahfud, the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) fulfilled the request of the Ministry of Defense (Kemenhan) to obtain the right to manage the orbital slot of 123 degrees east to build a defense communications satellite (Satkomhan).

The Ministry of Defense then made a lease contract for the Artemis Satellite, which is a floater (temporary satellite to fill the orbit), belonging to Avanti Communication Limited (Avanti), on December 6, 2015, although the approval for the use of the orbital slot of 123 degrees east from the Communications and Information Technology was only issued on January 29, 2016.

However, the Ministry of Defense on June 25 2018 returned the rights to manage the orbital slot of 123 degrees east longitude to Kominfo.

On December 10, 2018, Kominfo issued a decision regarding the Right to Use Indonesian Satellite Filing at 123 Degree Orbit for Garuda-2 and Nusantara-A1-A Satellite Filing to PT Dini Nusa Kusuma (PT DNK). However, PT DNK was not able to solve the problem of the Ministry of Defense's residue in the procurement of the Satkomhan.

At the time of contracting with Avanti in 2015, the Ministry of Defense did not yet have a budget for this purpose.

"The contracts were carried out to make defense communication satellites with a very large value even though the budget did not yet exist," said Mahfud

To build the Satkomhan, the Ministry of Defense has also signed contracts with Navayo, Airbus, Detente, Hogan Lovel, and Telesat for the period 2015-2016, the budget for which in 2015 is not yet available.

Meanwhile, in 2016, the budget was available but the Ministry of Defense did self-blocking.

Then, Avanti sued at the London Court of International Arbitration because the Ministry of Defense did not pay the satellite lease in accordance with the contract value that had been signed.

"On July 9 2019, the arbitral tribunal handed down a decision which resulted in the state having issued payments for the rental of the Artemis Satellite, arbitration fees, consultant fees, and satellite filing fees equivalent to Rp 515 billion," Mahfud explained.

The government has also just received a decision from the Singapore Arbitration regarding Navayo's lawsuit. The ruling stated that the government was required to pay US$20.9 million.

"The 20 million US dollars is worth Rp. 304 billion," he explained.

Mahfud also estimates that this loss will increase because there are other companies that have signed contracts with the Ministry of Defense and have not filed a lawsuit.

"In addition to having been sentenced to arbitration decisions in London and Singapore earlier, the state also has the potential to be billed again by AirBus, Detente, Hogan Lovel, and Telesat. So we have a lot of burdens if this is not resolved immediately," said the Minister of Defense under President Abdurrahman Wahid ( Gus Dur) it.