VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Geographical conditions that spread as an archipelagic country, as well as having air and sea crossings, require Indonesia to have a capable defense to maintain its sovereignty. To achieve this, the Minister of Defense, Prabowo Subianto has visited 7 countries in Asia and Europe to enhance the defense and security capabilities of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. To show determination to change and to improve the Main Weaponry System -Alutsista, Ministry of Defense held an arms exhibition at the Ministry of Defense Office in Jakarta on Thursday (1/23/2020) and was continued by a TNI Leadership coordination meeting attended by President Joko Widodo.

However, the question arises which is more important to build or buy defense equipment from overseas (?)

President Joko Widodo, in a limited meeting at the Surabaya Submarine Hangar, after seeing the submarines made in Indonesia in collaboration with South Korea, has not yet decided to purchase weapons from foreign parties. However, he has instructed to reform the entire defense industry system. He also wants the defense equipment development program to strengthen Indonesia's defense industry. Indonesia needs to reduce its dependence on imported weapons.

Meanwhile, Minister of Defense, Prabowo Subianto, previously before the parliament members, said Indonesia is a country rich in natural resources and has always been the target of many other nations. Thereby, strengthening and modernizing defense equipment is a must. With the existing budget, the Ministry of Defense will implement four principles: being appropriate, efficient, economical, and geopolitical and geocentric aspects.

At present, the strengthening of Indonesia's strategic defense industry continues to be developed and increased in line with the allocation of funds worth Rp 126 trillion for the defense and security budget. Undoubtedly, increasing defense capability both in terms of weaponry and human resources is one of the important aspects of maintaining the sovereignty of the nation and state. Especially with the recent incident in Natuna Island, where there was a unilateral claim from China over the boundaries of Indonesia's economic exclusive zone. Surely, Indonesia must have sophisticated weapons to maintain its regional sovereignty. In addition, the experience of the arms embargo by producing countries has provided lessons for Indonesia to be independent in strategic industries. Technology transfer cooperation is the right step to becoming an independent nation in the strategic defense industry.