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With the launch of a new defense strategy on Tuesday, expectations are high that the Defense Ministry will build a maritime defense system that supports the government’s vision of transforming the country into a global maritime power.
Unlike a 2008 version that focused on territorial defense, the 2015 Defense White Paper released on Tuesday incorporates the global maritime axis and state defense concepts to deal with potential threats over the next five years.
“We need to revise our defense programs and make them in line with the government’s policies,” said the Defense Ministry’s director general for strategic defense, Maj. Gen. Yoedhi Swastanto.
He said the document highlighted maritime strategy development by military and nonmilitary agents. The state defense program, meanwhile, was part of a strategy to support a military approach to maintaining maritime safety, he added.
The new white paper defines future challenges in two categories, factual and non-factual threats, both of which are increasing as the government focuses on economic growth, which consequently requires military power enhancement.
Factual threats consist of terrorism and radicalism, separatism and armed rebellion, natural disasters, border area violations, piracy and natural resources theft, epidemics, cyber attacks and espionage, trafficking and drug abuse.
Meanwhile, it defines non-factual threats as open conflicts resulting from rivalries between the armed forces of different countries.
The document does not specify the non-factual threats, but warns that as a nation with tremendous potential, Indonesia is prone to dynamic threats, which could become factual and eventually put the national interest and honor at risk.
According to the white paper, the new strategic plan emphasizes the government’s commitment to meet the minimum essential force ( MEF ) in its weaponry systems, although it excludes any mention of preparations for war.
It says a stronger weaponry system aims only to protect the country’s integrity and sovereignty.
In addition to the development of military institutions, it also includes the development of nonmilitary institutions to improve the national defense posture and make the country “a sovereign and independent nation with a strong character based on mutual cooperation”.
The strategy to develop nonmilitary institutions also includes the establishment of defense offices in the regions, a plan that has triggered opposition over concerns of military intervention in public affairs.
The defense white paper states that the establishment of such regional defense offices is meant to “bridge the interests of the defense aspects of military and nonmilitary defense in the area”.
Responding to the defense paper, Muradi of Padjajaran University in Bandung said it would provide thorough guidance for decision-making on defense affairs.
“High-ranking officials, including the defense minister and the Indonesian Military commander, can no longer make any decisions, regarding weaponry procurement for example, based on their subjective judgments,” Muradi said.
“All decisions must comply with actual needs,” he said, adding that as the country was attempting to develop the maritime sector, defense policies should focus on the Navy and the Air Force, which would be frontline actors.
Defense analyst Connie Rahakundini Bakrie of University of Indonesia said a strategic defense document would be meaningless unless the government set up a national security council as mandated by the 2002 National Defense Law.
“Defense strategies aimed at protecting national interests must come from a comprehensive assessment by the national security council that comprises the Defense Ministry, the Home Ministry and the Foreign Ministry,” Connie said. “This is because defense policy cannot stand by itself.”
(THE JAKARTA POST)
