"We should not hurry to arrive at a conclusion on the polemics of the idea of the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs to introduce his state defense concept. We should first hear out his explanation, and we will summon him to discuss it," Novanto noted at the Parliament Building here on Tuesday.
He said if the state defense program had a good goal with regard to patriotism and dedication to the state and nation, the House will be ready to deliberate on it and its budget.
There has been a discourse that a state defense program will need a budget of Rp500 trillion. However, Novanto claimed to have not yet heard about it. In a meeting with Novanto on Monday, Pandjaitan did not make any mention of the program and its budget.
"I think Pak (Mr) Luhut Pandjaitan has not yet thought about such a large amount of budget, and he did not speak about the matter in yesterdays meeting when we discussed the handling of forest and land fires in the country," explained Novanto.
Deputy House Speaker Agus Hermanto has forecast that the amount of budget required for the development of a state defense program will be large, and thus, it should be studied before it is implemented.
Hermanto pointed out that the state defense program bore similarity to the conscription program and what differed was its intensity and curriculum.
"Once in the past, I had attended a state defense training program, and it was almost the same as the conscription program. What makes it different is its intensity and curriculum," Hermanto pointed out.
He affirmed that Indonesia also now needs to modernize its weaponry system, and so, the implementation of a state defense system, which needs a large amount of funds, was not yet timely.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2015
