Politics is a matter of support. The support for TNI's budget has not shown what was talked about in the era of the fifth Indonesian president, Megawati Soekarnoputri,Jakarta (ANTARA) - The government needs to raise defense budget to increase the Indonesian Military (TNI)'s strength to thwart external threats to state defense, a lawmaker said.
Political support for the TNI's budget has not been maximum, Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives (DPR) Commission I Utut Adianto said on Sunday.
He made the remarks during a talk show held at the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) on the occasion of the TNI's 77th anniversary .The talk show highlighted the history, pioneering and future design of TNI.
"Politics is a matter of support. The support for TNI's budget has not shown what was talked about in the era of the fifth Indonesian president, Megawati Soekarnoputri," he said.
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Strengthening TNI is inevitable so that TNI must be strong, stay disciplined and receive budget support to strengthen national defense, he said.
"We want to see TNI getting stronger," he said.
He said the defense budget which reaches Rp134 trillion is far from enough. Ideally, the defense budget should be twice or thrice as much as the current defense budget.
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Meanwhile, former Air Force Chief of Staff Marshal (ret) Agus Supriatna highlighted several challenges to TNI in the future.
"There are three things that I need to talk about to face the present and future challenges. We must have national strategy and policy, prepare human resources and procure primary weapon system," he said.
TNI's defense strategy policy must adjust to regional and global geopolitical challenges, he said.
"The defense strategy policy must focus on the present challenge and threat of war, namely asymmetric war, cyber war and proxy war," he said.
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Translator: Syaiful Hakim, Suharto
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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