Budget Rp. 127 Trillion: Kabir's Money Is A Big Responsibility Of The Ministry Of Defense

Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo asked the Ministry of Defense (Kemenhan) to be careful in managing the budget. This is because the ministry, which is led by Prabowo Subianto, will receive the largest allocation in 2020, which is around Rp. 127 trillion.

"I need to inform that the Ministry of Defense has received the largest state budget allocation since 2016 until now. In 2020, it is around Rp. 127 trillion. Be careful with this use," said Jokowi in his briefing at the 2020 Ministry of Defense, TNI, and Police Leadership Meeting (Rapim) invitation. Ministry of Defense Building, Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta, Thursday, January 23.

Despite asking the Ministry of Defense to be careful in managing the budget, the former Governor of DKI Jakarta is confident that the Minister of Defense (Menhan) Prabowo will be detailed in every budget utilization. He also reminded that the budget must be managed properly and used to manage the domestic defense industry.

"It must be efficient, clean, no more mark-ups and mark-ups and the most important thing is to support our domestic (defense) industry," said Jokowi.

Jokowi at the Defense Ministry Leadership Meeting (Wardhany Tsa Tsia / VOI)

During the briefing, Jokowi also briefly touched on technological developments that were happening globally and their impact could be felt today, such as drone technology being given weapons that could catch up with tanks, including other developments. According to him, the TNI should be brave enough to make this kind of technology.

"Our TNI must have the courage to start building the things I mentioned earlier. Because everything currently in the business industry starts from military equipment," he stressed, adding that strengthening the mastery of defense technology must be carried out immediately.

Apart from talking about the use of the state budget for military technology, he also said that the government would continue to improve the welfare of soldiers and retired TNI soldiers. Jokowi also explained that the government would later propose a revision of Law 34 of 2004 concerning the TNI which relates to the retirement age of officers, non-commissioned officers and military officers.

"So far, the age (retirement) of 53 years has been changed to 58 years," he concluded.