Jakarta. US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has said that Indonesia is doing a good job by upgrading its military arsenal, as Washington wants allies to share the burden of beefing up “collective defense”.

Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday, Hegseth said that security had heavily depended on American military power in a speech on Washington’s peace strategy for the Indo-Pacific. And it’s about time for US allies to take off some of the workload, according to Hegseth, as he listed the ASEAN nations that had helped bear the burden, including Jakarta.

“Indonesia too is making important strides as it modernizes its armed forces and expands the scale of military exercises with us and our partners... strengthening interoperability and reinforcing regional stability,” Hegseth told the Singapore-based security conference.

Other Southeast Asian neighbors that Washington considers to have stepped up to safeguard regional security include Singapore and Malaysia, among others. He also took a jab at European nations for not pulling their weight in burden-sharing.

“We don’t need more conferences. We need more combat power. … Less Shangri-La, more ships, more subs,” Hegseth said. 

Hegseth also called on countries to prevent China from dominating the region. 

Indonesia’s 2026 state budget document has earmarked Rp 337 trillion ($18.9 billion) for defense purposes. Some Rp 187 trillion (almost $10.5 billion) will go to the Defense Ministry, and about Rp 83 trillion (almost $4.7 billion) slated for military upgrades. France is among Indonesia’s main suppliers in the country’s latest upgrades to its ageing military aircraft, particularly via the Dassault Aviation-made Rafale fighter jets. Just last month, Indonesia and the US sealed a “major defense cooperation partnership” that zeroes in on military modernization and joint exercises.

Deputy Defense Minister Donny Ermawan Taufanto will represent Indonesia at the security forum, according to the ministry’s spokesman Rico Ricardo Sirait. Rico did not say why Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin would skip the Shangri-La Dialogue when asked by the Jakarta Globe. Sjafrie was seen welcoming Prabowo at the Halim Perdanakusuma base on Saturday mid-morning as the latter returned from France.

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