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| Model of the KFX Fighter (File Photo) |
By Clint Richards
South Korea’s new fighter jet program could help reinvigorate Indonesia’s stagnant military developers.
Indonesia decided on Monday to buy into the South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration’s (DAPA) new mid-level fighter jet program. The decision comes after Jakarta ordered 16 Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) T-50is in May 2011 for $400 million. While Indonesia has sourced its fighter aircraft from several countries, including the U.S., Russia and Brazil, finding a regional partner that it can work with in the development process is likely part of a longer-term approach to revamping its military after years of stagnation following the financial crisis of 1997. The new political leadership in Jakarta will now need the political bandwidth to keep projects such as this on track, as multiple challenges face the new presidency of Joko Widodo.
Joko will have his hands full working to improve the country’s infrastructure and economy, on top of rebuilding its military, and a prolonged political standoff with his election adversary would certainly complicate matters and potentially lead to a government stalemate. Joko’s former presidential opponent Prabowo Subianto and his coalition reportedly have plans to cause trouble for the new president (Pay Walled).
On Wednesday, the Jakarta Post reported that “Gerindra Party deputy chairman Edhie Prabowo has insisted that the Red-and-White Coalition will not impede [Joko] inauguration.” Prabowo’s Gerindra-led Red-and-White Coalition is the counterweight to Joko’s Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). Edhie’s statement came after the Red-and-White Coalition narrowly defeated the PDI-P for the speakership of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) 347 votes to 330 votes. This means that while Joko may take his position as president uncontested (at least through the inauguration), Prabowo’s coalition now controls the MPR and the House of Representatives (DPR). This coalition balance between two different nodes of governmental power could cause stagnation, as it does in many other democracies, if Prabowo and his political allies do not provide enough political space to cooperate with Joko on some non-domestic issues, particularly those that improve Indonesia’s defense capabilities in light of concerns that China may be interested in challenging its maritime sovereignty.
Read the full story at The Diplomat