Rp300 Billion Needed for Boosting Security Arrangements During Elections

Jakarta (Antara) - The military requires a funding of about 300 billion IDR to help the police in beefing up the security arrangements during the upcoming 2014 elections, Chief of the Indonesian Military (TNI) General Moeldoko stated. "According to the government plans, we will receive around Rp100 billion for security arrangements during the elections. Ideally, we require Rp300 billion," Moeldoko claimed at a gathering of the Chief Editors from major media houses, after a meeting with top military officials at the TNI Headquarters, Jakarta, on Monday. Moeldoko pointed out that a budget of Rp100 billion was not sufficient for the military to provide adequate security arrangements for the 2014 elections. But, he was adopting a wait-&-watch policy, as the discussions on the budget for securing the elections are still on-going. "The Rp100 billion is still not enough, as we will be deploying all our forces across Indonesia," he noted. According to Moeldoko, the budget was needed to arm the soldiers with sufficient riot control equipment. After the Reform Era, the security apparatus was not in place and hence, we need to procure it. Moeldoko stated that in regard to the election preparations, the military and police have made a commitment to provide security during the elections. The military and police are on the frontline, for safeguarding the elections. "This was done to avoid any repetitions of past mistakes and in accordance with the regulations. We do not want our technical and tactical actions to result in any errors," he stated. (*) Reporting by Syaiful Hakim