In a limited meeting held at the Presidential Office in Jakarta on Monday, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said Indonesia’s current defence budget amounted to 1.1 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), slightly up from previous allocations of 0.89 per cent of GDP in 2015 and 0.79 per cent in 2014.

Jokowi added that with targeted economic growth of 6 per cent, Indonesia’s defence budgetary allocation would increase to 1.5 per cent of GDP, worth around Rp 250 trillion (US$18.66 billion).

“It’s a very large amount. This should be anticipated from now on. There should be proper and detailed planning so the budget allocation will be well-targeted and well-planned from the very beginning,” Jokowi said.

With such defence system development, he hoped the Indonesian Military would be ready to anticipate threats in the future as geographically, two-thirds of the country’s territorial area was sea. Such a geographical situation would affect the constellation of warfare in the future, the President said.

“I’m really aware that to build a professional and respected Indonesian Military, we should be able to meet our defence equipment requirements” he added.

Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said the country’s defences needed to be developed to protect the archipelago.

“The President wants to know the strength of military capacity needed to secure and maintain the vast territory of this country. Moreover, we know Indonesia is an archipelagic country; so, early readiness of our defences is very important,” he told reporters.