Prabowo Said, Defense Is An Investment

Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto and his staff (Wardhany Tsa Tsia / VOI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Defense (Menhan) Prabowo Subianto said that the modernization of the TNI's defense equipment is very important. This is because the defense system can be a long-term investment for the country.

"Defense is an investment. A country with a strong defense is safe, a peaceful climate occurs, a peaceful climate guarantees a good economic climate. Investment, investors will enter a country that is peaceful and safe," Prabowo told reporters at the Ministry of Defense (Kemenhan) Building, Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta, Thursday, January 23.

He added that strong defense is also needed to carry out President Joko Widodo's message, which states that Indonesia's sovereignty is a fixed price.

However, the TNI's task is not easy in maintaining the territorial integrity of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. So, it needs assistance from reserve components and supporting components as additional troops. "We will also return to using the universal people's security defense system," he said.

The Special Staff of the Minister of Defense for Public Communication and Inter-Media Relations Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak said, to present a strong defense, the Ministry of Defense would use the IDR 127 trillion APBN to renew the TNI's defense equipment.

"Pak Prabowo wants one of them (the budget) to strengthen and modernize Alutsista," he said.

Dahnil also emphasized that Prabowo had a special formula to take advantage of this budgeting. First, the budget must be efficient, secondly efficient, thirdly economical, and finally, it must involve geopolitical and geocentric aspects.

It is this aspect of efficiency, said Dahnil, that makes Prabowo often conduct defense diplomacy. This is because buying weapons is not like buying a television or buying a car.

"We need an agreement, we need G to G (Government to Government) clearence now, especially when the weapons business buys it, even though business to business will still have G to G clearence," he concluded.