"Once again I still strongly believe in our TNI in defending Indonesia's sovereignty, I still strongly believe," Jokowi said during the fourth presidential candidate debate at Shangri-La Hotel here on Saturday evening.
The fourth presidential debate focused on the issues pertaining to Ideology, Governance, Defense and Security, as well as International Relations.
Responding to his contender Prabowo Subianto's critical question on budget constraints of the national defense, Jokowi admitted that his administration has currently given more priority to the national infrastructure development.
"At a time when our economic growth is getting better, the global economy revives, we will be able to provide more for our military budget in order to build better defense equipment in the future," he stated.
He also admitted that Indonesia's defense budget was smaller than those of many other countries.
"Our defense budget is indeed small compared to those of many other countries. However, I still believe in strategic intelligence information that I received stating that in the next 20 years, there will be no foreign invasion," Jokowi remarked.
Jokowi also argued that Indonesia, in the near future, has to be more focused on dealing with internal security challenges, particularly conflicts.
Translator: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
