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As the military is expecting the delivery of 164 Leopard Main Battle Tank (MBT) and Marder infantry fighting vehicles from Germany, the two presidential hopefuls running for July 9 election are locked in heated argument about the procurement of those vehicles.
The disagreement appeared in the latest presidential debate held by the General Election Commission (KPU) televised nationwide on Sunday night. Presidential candidate nominated by coalition of Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party, Prabowo Subinato, defended the importance of Leopard MBT to reinforce the nation's armaments.
"Selection on procurement of any armament should have been jointly conducted through pertinent discussion and research by the defense ministry, the army and the military," ex-army general Prabowo said, responding to doubts of the tank's effectiveness in Indonesia which has specific geographical condition as it is located in tropical and archipelago territory.
The Leopard MBT is allegedly designed to fit continent terrain, hardly able to go through rainforests in Indonesia.
Prabowo's arch rival Joko Widodo from the coalition of Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said that procurement on the Leopard MBT may cost the nation's infrastructure.
"Leopard tank is too heavy. With its 62-ton weights, the tanks may damage roads. Not to mention the bridges, they would hardly be able to take a 62-ton burden," Joko Widodo, governor of Indonesia' s capital city said in his reply to Prabowo's argument.
He added that institutions assigned to assess the tank's procurement should recheck the military's intention to buy Leopard MBT, whether it fits for operation in the country or not.
Joko said Indonesia should prioritize procurement on armaments for the military from domestic producers. He said that he would encourage production of military personnel carrier Anoa by armament producer Pindad.
"This is to avoid heavy reliance on foreign suppliers," Joko said.
Indonesia is now expecting the initial delivery of Leopard MBT, Marder infantry fighting vehicles it ordered from German producer last year. The initial delivery of those armaments include 26 Leopard MBTs and 26 Marder vehicles.
In a statement released on Sunday, former Army Chief of Staff Ret. Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo said those vehicles would be displayed to the public in the upcoming military birthday on Oct. 5.
Indonesia ordered a total of 164 of those vehicles, consisted of 104 Leopard MBTs, 50 Marders and 10 other military vehicles from Germany. Indonesia initially signed contracts to buy 130 Leopard tanks worth 280 million U.S. dollars with deliveries scheduled for 2014 and 2016.
Indonesia is making major efforts to develop its military until the Minimum Essential Force (MEF) level is achieved in 2024. Government has allocated some 156 trillion rupiah (about 13 billion U.S. dollars) to finance procurement of new military armaments until 2014.
