Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto said Wednesday that a country should invest in its defense systems as the once-colonized Indonesia works to upgrade its military equipment.

Prabowo has just kicked off a four-day defense show in Jakarta that brought arms producers from around the globe. According to Prabowo, the “good neighbor” Indonesia respects the national interests of its partners, but in exchange, the country wants the others to also not disturb its territorial integrity and sovereignty. The former defense minister also talked of how the history of mankind -- including Indonesia’s colonial past -- had taught the world a valuable lesson: how a country should make sure that its military technology is not outdated.

"History has taught all of us that a nation that does not want to invest in its defense system will [have] its independence being stolen away. It will be subjugated to the will of others and witness its wealth being stolen,” Prabowo said at the 2024 Indo Defence Forum & Expo.

“For us, war is the last resort. We will only go into war if we have to. [And when that time comes,] our ancestors have taught us that it’s better to die than to get colonized again,” Prabowo added.

The ex-military chief also looked back on when Indonesia was under Dutch colonial rule for hundreds of years, and how the resource-rich nation had lost many opportunities to grow its economy. Prabowo claimed that the Dutch had taken over $31 trillion worth of Indonesia’s wealth when they ruled the country. This was over eighteenfold of Indonesia’s current gross domestic product (GDP), which Prabowo said to have stood at $1.5 trillion. 

He added: “[The Dutch colonies’ wealth] is worth around 140 years' worth of our state budget. When it was in control of our country, the Dutch had the world’s biggest GDP per capita. If only we could protect our riches [from the Dutch back then], perhaps our GDP per capita could be among the world’s largest.”

Later that day, Prabowo toured around the exhibition and saw the signing of several deals with Turkish companies. 

Frega Ferdinand Wenas, the spokesperson for the Defense Ministry, claimed that this year’s Indo Defence Forum & Expo had secured 27 contracts.

“Some came from the state-run shipbuilder PAL, aerospace company Dirgantara Indonesia, among others.” These deals were worth Rp 32 trillion (approximately $1.9 billion). Frega, however, did not go into details on each contract.

When Prabowo ran for president last year, the Gerindra Party chairman vowed to gradually increase the country’s defense spending to modernize its military equipment. For this year alone, the defense ministry gets to spend up to Rp 165 trillion. However, media reports showed that the ministry had to lower its 2025 spending to Rp 139.2 trillion following Prabowo’s budget austerity measures.

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