KRI Bung Karno-369, Most Popularly Owned By The Indonesian Navy, 100 Percent Of The Work Of The Children Of The Nation

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Puan Maharani (Dok DPR Photo)

JAKARTA - The chairman of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, witnessed the inauguration and handover of KRI Bung Karno-369 to the Indonesian Navy (AL). This corvette ship will become the new Indonesian presidential ship.

The handover ceremony and the inauguration of KRI Bung Karno were held at Mako Kolinlamil, North Jakarta, Thursday, May 1. Puan accompanied the 5th President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The handover of KRI Bung Karno was carried out by the producer to the Indonesian Navy. The signing of the minutes was carried out by the directors of the producer, Commander of the Fleet Command (Pangkoarmada) I Rear Admiral TNI Erwin S. Aldedharma, Assistant Logistics (Aslog) KSAL Laksda Agus Santoso, and Head of the Naval Procurement Service (Kadisadal) Admiral TNI Widiyantoro.

Apart from Puan and Megawati, the handover of the KRI Bung Karno was also witnessed by the TNI Commander Admiral Yudo Margono and the Chief of Naval Staff (KSAL) Admiral Muhammad Ali.

"I am proud to witness the handover ceremony and the inauguration of the KRI Bung Karno Corvette Ship. Moreover, the Bung Karno ship is 100 percent made by the nation's children," said Puan.

After the signing of the handover was complete, the event was continued with the inauguration ceremony and the inauguration of KRI Bung Karno-369 with the TNI Commander acting as inspector of the ceremony. In this ceremony, a procession of raising the Red and White flag was also carried out at the stern of KRI Bung Karno.

The statement of the inauguration and inauguration of the ship was carried out by Megawati, who is also the daughter of Bung Karno. Accompanied by the TNI Commander, Megawati also cut the ribbon and broke the jug as a symbol of the inauguration of KRI Bung Karno-369.

The inauguration ceremony was closed with the inauguration of the KRI Bung Karno Commander which was carried by Marine Lieutenant Colonel (P) Krido Satrio Utomo. On that occasion, invited guests had taken to KRI Bung Karno and saw the conditions on the ship along with their equipment.

KRI Bung Karno is a replacement ship for KRI Barakuda which has been operating for 27 years as a presidential ship. The task of this ship is to maintain the safety of the head of state and other VVIP guests when carrying out activities at sea.

One of the advantages of the Bung Karno corvette ship is that this ship is a cruiser equipped with complete weapons, ranging from cannons, guided missiles, as well as several sensors that can detect all threats from both air, surface, and underwater.

Puan said that the Indonesian nation should be proud of the achievements of the country's children by making KRI Bung Karno.

"This proves that many of the sons and daughters of our nation are great. KRI Bung Karno will complete the TNI's defense equipment to maintain state sovereignty," said the first woman to serve as Chair of the DPR RI.

The inauguration and inauguration of KRI Bung Karno was deliberately carried out to coincide with the commemoration of the Birthday of Pancasila and close to the anniversary of Sukarno's birthday. The TNI deliberately named this KRI as Bung Karno because of the background of the determination and struggle of the first President of Indonesia against the maritime world in the country.

"Bung Karno has the goal of making Indonesia a great maritime country. Even Bung Karno was named the captain of the Republic of Indonesia at the 1963 Maritime National Conference for his struggle for the world of maritime affairs of Indonesia," said Puan.

To note, Sukarno is the creator of the Navy's weapon system concept, namely the Integrated Fleet Weapon System (SSAT) which is not owned by the Navy in other countries. This SSAT consists of warships, aircraft, marine, and bases. SSAT became the strength of the Indonesian Navy in supporting the main tasks of upholding sovereignty and law at sea during joint operations.

Bung Karno also wants to make Indonesia the World Lighthouse by making the maritime sector in its development orientation. At the first Maritime National Conference to be held at Tugu Tani, Jakarta, 1963, Sukarno presented all national maritime stakeholders to contribute in the direction of maritime development.

Even the strength of the Indonesian Navy in Bung Karno's time was quite powerful. Like during the Trikora operation in order to seize West Irian where the TNI deployed KRI Irian and 12 Whiskey-class submarines imported from the Soviet Union and considered the powerful force of the Indonesian combat fleet feared in the area at that time.

Sukarno's struggle in the maritime sector is what underlies the Indonesian Navy in choosing the name Bung Karno as the name of the new presidential ship. Moreover, Bung Karno was also a figure who built and inaugurated the Navy's flight center, giving the banner of the command corps to the Marines, which at that time was called KKO and Pangkalan, so that they had received submarine brevets.

Bung Karno's grandson hopes that the embedding of the name of his grandfather on the presidential new ship will further motivate Indonesian Navy soldiers to carry out their duties as guardians of state sovereignty. Puan hopes that Sukarno's struggle to make Indonesia a strong maritime country can be continued by the next generation of the nation.

"And we in the DPR will always support the progress of the Indonesian Navy's strength through our functions and authorities. One of them is support for increasing the TNI's defense equipment and the welfare of soldiers," said the former Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture.