Suara.com – Secretary of the National Winning Team (TPN) Ganjar-Mahfud, Hasto Kristiyanto, said that the state should not endanger the lives of soldiers by providing the main weapons systems or defense equipment and combat assets that are outdated.
“Pak Prabowo, with such a large defense budget, it is very unfortunate that he prefers buying used aircraft,” said Hasto when met after attending a joint viewing event for the 2024 presidential election debate with volunteers Ganjar-Mahfud in Newsdelivers.com, Sunday (7/1/2024).
Responding to Prabowo’s gesture which he deemed unacceptable when it came to the defense equipment budget, Hasto said, “As a TNI soldier, what members need is pride in defending Indonesia’s security and territory.”
According to him, safety and comfort must be prioritized, considering that soldiers have huge potential risks in carrying out their duties. Therefore, countries must not sacrifice their lives by purchasing obsolete combat assets such as used aircraft.
Moreover, the budget given to purchase defense equipment is quite large.
Hasto further suspects that the continued purchase of used planes is due to the interests of a group which must be thoroughly investigated.
“It is said from the analysis that it is suspected that there are interests involved, the interests of rent seekers, so this must be thoroughly investigated. Pak Ganjar and Pak Anies agreed that the purchase of obsolete equipment should not be carried out, especially with debt,” said the Secretary General of the PDI Perjuangan. as reported by Antara Sunday evening.
In the third presidential debate held at Istora Senayan, Newsdelivers.com, tonight, Indonesian Presidential Candidate Prabowo Subianto felt disapproving and claimed that the used defense equipment purchased by the Government was still young.
“I will bring my data, the real data, OK? So, in my opinion, used goods are misleading the people, sir, it’s inappropriate for the professor to say that, yes, because in the defense up to 50 percent of the equipment purchased is used, but he is still young,” said Prabowo.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Presidential Candidate Ganjar Pranowo responded that he and Mahfud Md. will implement a policy of purchasing defense equipment that is debt-free and non-obsolete.
“So, I’m sorry about the debt, no debt, no obsolescence, until our alutsista really transfers technology from within the state,” said Ganjar.
He believes that the policy of purchasing defense equipment using debt could actually be deadly, especially for infrastructure that has high risks.
The former Governor of Central Java for two terms also said that the Government must calculate correctly and wisely when purchasing defense equipment.
According to him, a country once collapsed because of debt. Nevertheless, Ganjar said that the domestic defense industry needed to be strengthened.
Previously, the Indonesian General Election Commission (KPU) had determined the participants in the 2024 Presidential and Vice Presidential Election (Pilpres), namely the pair Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar number 1, Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka number 2, and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud Md. serial number 3.
The KPU has also set a campaign period from 28 November 2023 to 10 February 2024, then the voting schedule is on 14 February 2024.