Editorial: Will Indonesia Double Its Military Budget in 2016?

By Prashanth Parameswaran

Its president has vowed to do so. But can the goal be achieved?

Last week, Indonesian president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo vowed to double the country’s defense budget in 2016 if its economy grows by 7%.

According to Antara News, on May 13, Jokowi said that if the economy grew by 7%, the budget of Indonesia’ military (TNI) will more than double to 210 trillion rupiah ($16 billion) in 2016 from the current 98 trillion rupiah.

The vow is part of Jokowi’s campaign pledge to increase Indonesia’s defense budget to 1.5% of GDP from its current 0.8% as Jakarta seeks to achieve a so-called Minimum Essential Force by 2024. That is an urgent task. As I have pointed out earlier, since Jakarta’s paltry budget has never constituted more than 1% of GDP (unlike some of its neighbors like Malaysia or Vietnam), the lack of investment has made it difficult for it to perform even basic functions like controlling its own territorial waters (See: “An Indonesian Defense Revolution Under Jokowi?”). Getting there, however, would require healthy economic growth, and Jokowi had pledged to boost GDP growth to 7% on average during his term which ends in 2019.

Read the full story at The Diplomat