Gorontalo - The Indonesian military (TNI) plans to spread its forces to islands bordering with other countries to strengthen the country's defenses, a military official said. "Forces will be spread to border regions from Aceh, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi to Papua," Col. Sigit Priyono, head of the Sub-directorate of State Defense Policy Development of the Directorate General of Defense Strategy of the ministry of defense, said here on Wednesday. He said the paradigm of state defense had changed from Java-centered to the new one which views that defense and security disruptions across the territory could threaten the existence of the Unitary State of Indonesia. "Meanwhile the number of forces stationed in Java is bigger than that in border regions which are actually more vulnerable in terms of defense and security," he said. The ratio of the number of forces in Java is 1 per 0.8 square kilometer while in Sumatra one per 7.6 square kilometer, in Kalimantan one per 27.3 square kilometer, Sulawesi one per 6.8 square kilometer and Papua one per 27.5 square kilometer. He said the relocation policy was part of the strategy to strengthen the state defense currently being carried out by the ministry of defense. "Along with it the ministry of defense also carries out a revitalization program by upgrading the status of and number of forces in a unit such as from a company to battalion or a naval post to a naval base," he said. Other policy taken by the ministry is meeting the needs for military hardware to one hundred percent meet the standard that has been set. "The government is seeking to build a defense industry of its own to avoid dependence on other countries," he said. Among the efforts taken are developing a KI-FX plane in cooperation with South Korea, which is above the F16 but under the Sukhoi standards, manufacturing several types of assault rifles by Pindad (arms industry) and manufacturing of several types of helicopters and transport aircraft by PTDI (aircraft manufacturer). (*)


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