Democrat: Defense Equipment Budget Of IDR 1.7 Quadrillion Spent 3 Years, Doesn't Makes Sense

Member of Commission I DPR RI Syarief Hasan (Photo: Instagram @syarief.hasan)

JAKARTA - The draft Presidential Decree on the Fulfillment of the Need for Defense and Security Equipment (Alpalhankam) of the Ministry of Defense and the Indonesian National Army for 2020-2024 is still being debated.

The reason is, the budget needed to buy defense equipment is $ 124,995,000, or the equivalent of IDR 1,788,228,482,251,470 (quadrillion). The problem is, the budget must be exhausted in less than three years or until 2024.

Member of Commission I of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Syarief Hasan, considered it unreasonable to spend a budget of IDR 1.7 quadrillion which was too large to be spent within 3 years.

"It's very big, in three years it doesn't make sense, under these circumstances", said Syarief Hasan, at the House of Representatives Building, Jakarta, Monday, June 7.

According to the deputy chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly, such a large budget may be allocated if the Indonesian people's economic conditions have improved with the parameter of people's per capita income reaching at least $ 5,000.

"Unless we are already prosperous, the people's economy has started to rise, our per capita income has increased to $ 5,000, for example, that's new", the senior Democrat politician said.

During a meeting at the House of Representatives building last week, the Minister of Defense, Prabowo Subianto, was reluctant to comment on the news circulating about the IDR 1.7 quadrillion budget. He only mentioned that the budget plan for the procurement of defense equipment is still being worked out by his ministry.