TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Mahfud Siddiq, a member of House of Representatives Commission I overseeing defense, regretted the recent C-130 Hercules plane crash and urged the government to evaluate the country’s primary weaponry defense system (Alutsista).
"The cause [of the accident] shows that it's necessary to modernize the [Alutsista] and to eliminate the grant system. Buying secondhand products poses great risk," Mahfud said at the Senayan Parliamentary Complex on Tuesday, June 30, 2015.
Earlier, a military-owned plane carrying 12 soldiers crashed in Medan, North Sumatera, on Tuesday, June 30, 2015 at around 12:00 AM. The plane hit a hotel and houses resulting in more than 10 people dead. Mahfud said the C-130 plane was a grant from Australia after being upgraded in Singapore in 2013.
Ahmad Muzani, another Commission I member from the Great Indonesia Movement Party, echoed Mahfud's argument and urged the Defense Minister to stop accepting poor quality grants. Muzani believed that the State Budget would be enough to buy new Alutsista.
PUTRI ADITYOWATI
