JAKARTA - Secretary of the National Winning Team (TPN) Ganjar-Mahfud, Hasto Kristiyanto, said that the state should not endanger the lives of soldiers by providing assets of the main weapon system (defense equipment) and outdated combat.
"Pak Prabowo with such a large defense budget, it is very unfortunate that he prefers the purchase of used aircraft," said Hasto during the 2024 presidential election debate, Sunday, January 7.
Responding to Prabowo's gesture which was deemed unacceptable when asked about the defense equipment budget, Hasto said, "As a TNI soldier, what members need is the pride of maintaining Indonesian security and territory."
According to him, security and comfort must be prioritized, considering that soldiers have enormous potential risks in carrying out their duties. Therefore, the state must not sacrifice their lives by buying outdated combat assets such as used aircraft.
Moreover, the budget given to buy defense equipment is quite large.
Furthermore, Hasto suspects that the purchase of used planes is due to the interests of a group that must be thoroughly investigated.
"The statement from the analysis is that it is suspected that there are interests in it, the interests of rent-seeking, so this must be thoroughly investigated. Pak Ganjar and Pak Anies agreed that the purchase of outdated equipment should not be carried out, especially with debt," said the PDI-P Secretary General.
In the third presidential candidate debate held at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, tonight, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto felt disapproved and claimed that the age of the used defense equipment purchased by the Government was still young.
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"I will bring my data, the actual data, yes. So, in my opinion, the used goods are misleading the people, sir, it is inappropriate for the professor to say that, yes, because in defense, up to 50 percent of the tools purchased are used, but they are young," said Prabowo.
Meanwhile, the Candidate for President of the Republic of Indonesia Ganjar Pranowo responded that he and Mahfud Md would implement a policy of buying defense equipment without debt and not obsolete.
"So, apologize related to debt, no debt, no obsolete, so that our defense equipment is really we are transferring technology from within the country," said Ganjar.
He assessed that the policy of buying defense equipment using debt could actually be deadly, especially in infrastructure that has a high risk.
The former governor of Central Java for two periods also said that the Government must properly calculate and wisely to buy defense equipment.
According to him, a country has collapsed due to debt. However, Ganjar said that the domestic defense industry needed to be strengthened.
Previously, the General Election Commission (KPU) of the Republic of Indonesia had determined the 2024 Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections (Pilpres) participants, namely the Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar pair number 1, Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka number 2, and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud Md. serial number 3.
The KPU has also set a campaign period from November 28, 2023 to February 10, 2024, then the voting schedule will be on February 14, 2024.
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