The country needs to have a strong military to command respect from other countries, Sutarto said here on Sunday.
"A country without military strength to rely on to protect its sovereignty would lose respect from other countries," he said when speaking at a program of human resources development at the state run Gajah Mada University here.
If Indonesia has a strong military as in the 1960s, other countries would think a thousand times before risking being in conflict against the country, he added.
Therefore, Indonesia has to strengthen its weapon system and personnel, he said.
"We need to develop our weaponry and modernize our defense industry. If we have no spirit to take an initiative we would never be able to produce weapons we need to defend ourselves," he said.
He said Indonesia has proved that it could produce heavy artillery pointing to locally produced Anoa armored vehicles and other attacking weapons.
Anoa armored vehicles are not inferior in quality than the types produced by other countries as indicated by the interest shown in the equipment by other countries, he said.
"Even the United Nations has recommended the use Anoa armored vehicles for its operations in a number of countries," he said.
Pindad has also produced attacking weapons named SS-2 in which other countries have also shown interest as it has high accuracy.
He said if imports are needed Indonesia should imports from a number of countries to prevent the risk of embargo and to guarantee that the prices are competitive.
"The experience of twice being embargoed should serve as a lesson. We should not let ourselves being dependent in military equipment on a certain country," he said.
The United States has imposed embargo banning the sales of military aircraft spare-parts to Indonesia such as over East Timor conflict.
(H-ASG/F001)
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
