TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Defense Ministry spokesman Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak revealed that the meeting between Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto and State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir on Thursday was to discuss on Indonesia's primary weapons defense system (alutsista).

According to Dahnil, Prabowo wants the two ministries to strengthen the domestic defense industry in order to reduce Indonesia's dependence on imported alutsista.

“Pak Prabowo wants to ensure that our SOEs are ready to produce certain weapons systems to no longer be dependent on imports again,” said Dahnil to Tempo on Friday, June 12. Dahnil revealed that this goal aligns with President Joko Widodo’s orders.

Based on the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) records on April 15, Indonesia’s weapons imports had surged more than 7,000 percent from February.

The BPS records weapons and ammunition imports had increased amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout March 2020, BPS saw that weapons imports reached a value of US$187.1 million, which is 7,384 percent compared to February 2020 that only recorded US$2.5 million. This is also an 8,809 percent increase compared to March of 2019 that only scored a value of USD2.1 million.

The national plan to strengthen Indonesia’s defense industry had initially been mentioned by Erick in January this year, who at the time, requested Prabowo Subianto to create a blueprint that can help develop Indonesia’s defense.

FRANCISCA CHRISTY ROSANA