"Without self-sufficiency in the defense industry, it is nonsense that we will become a strong country," Susmoro remarked here on Tuesday.
The National Resilience Council earlier organized a pre-assembly meeting to perfect the draft of the national strategic plan. Apart from the national defense industry, the meeting also discussed recommendations on the internationalization of the Papuan issue, warehouse system optimization, and digital talent development.
Susmoro said that the national defense industry is not maturing to an established level as envisaged by Law No. 16 of 2012 on the National Defence Industry.
"At present, the result is far from significant fruition, it is even still far from our expectations. The government's target of self-sufficiency by 2029 still a long way to go," the secretary general added.
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Based on observations and discussions on the national defense industry, Indonesia's defense industry self-sufficiency is still at the basic level, despite its success in recording a high domestic component level (TKDN), Susmoro highlighted.
"We see that the TKDN is already surpassing the 40-percent mark, yet the (level of) self-sufficiency is far from our expectation," he said.
Indonesia must achieve self-sufficiency in the defense industry -- which is vital for national security -- before achieving self-sufficiency in other sectors, he underlined.
"We cannot just achieve self-sufficiency, as it needs gradual means. While we are in peace, it is the time to bolster our self-sufficiency as we still have time," Susmoro said.
Moreover, he expressed the hope that the Defence Industry Policy Committee (KKIP) will improve its performance in developing Indonesia's defense industry.
"We will try to benchmark (our industry) with countries that have successfully developed (defense industry) self-sufficiency, such as Turkey and the United Arab Emirates," he added.
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Translator: Melalusa Susthira, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Suharto
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