President Jokowi Calls for Shift from Arms Purchase to Investment

Jakarta, 16 Syawal 1437/21 Juli 2016  (MINA) – President Joko Widodo has called for changing the pattern and opting for defense investment rather than spending on defense system equipment, Antara reported.

In a limited cabinet meeting on defense system equipment (alutsista) at his office here on Wednesday, it was noted that a lot of countries have offered cooperation in alutsista procurement.

“Please calculate (to see) which of the offers would benefit in the short-term, medium-term and long-term national interests,” he advised.

President Jokowi, as he is also called, noted that transfer of technology clause in alutsista procurement was a common thing.

“This is common. Everyone offers it now, from joint designing that will give property right about a new alutsista to national industry and also reallocation of production facilities from producing countries to Indonesia,” he added.

Jokowi underlined that he hoped the offers would be optimized to ensure new breakthroughs in procurement of national defense equipment.

“The new breakthroughs must result in changing our pattern of alutsista spending into preferring defense investment in the future,” he stressed.

President Joko Widodo mentioned that alutsista procurement must also take into account the life which such weapon systems have.

“We must no longer buy fighter aircraft that only serve for the next 20 years,” he emphasized.

To strengthen the national defense industry, he said, the process of alutsista procurement must start having government to government interaction and reduce the role of brokers.

“Reducing the role of middlemen means dealing with the problem of price mark-ups, strengthening the integrity pact and inducing zero-tolerance to corrupt practices in our country,” he concluded. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)