Jakarta. Newly appointed Foreign Minister Arrmanatha Nasir said Monday that Indonesia would use diplomatic efforts to grow its defense industry, a statement that came amid Jakarta’s rising military spending and warplane orders.

Hours after his inauguration ceremony on Monday, Arrmanatha — a career diplomat — briefed reporters on how he would guide Indonesia’s foreign affairs. He said that the policies wouldn’t shift an iota, while listing what Jakarta expects to achieve from its engagements with its foreign partners.

“The yardstick is simple. Diplomacy must be felt at the people’s dining tables. In other words, our diplomacy is working for food and energy security, industrial processing, digital transformation, defense industry, among others,” Arrmanatha said.

Arrmanatha did not go into detail on the defense industry. However, he reaffirmed Jakarta’s unwavering stance of “not joining any [military] blocs”. He described Indonesia as being a “peace-loving nation that seeks to befriend all nations,” but “will not hesitate to take a firm stance” if its national interests are harmed.

Under the Prabowo Subianto administration, Indonesia has ordered multiple fighter jets and trainer aircraft. Jakarta has been pushing for domestic production and technology transfers in its negotiations. 

A notable contract includes 48 units of the Turkish-made KAAN fighters. The government had stated that the Turkish contract would include setting up a “local-based industry”.

State-owned arms maker Pindad also intends to build a Beijing-backed ammunition factory, a deal announced by Defense Minister Sjafrie Samsoeddin in August. Jakarta at the time had just hosted Sjafrie’s Chinese counterpart Dong Jun and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for the so-called “2+2 talks” with then-chief diplomat Sugiono. 

French aerospace giant Dassault Aviation is also engaging in technology transfers with the state-owned planemaker Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI). The transfer followed Indonesia's order of 42 units of the Dassault-made Rafale warplanes.

Prabowo recently told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi that they had agreed to “beef up defense industry cooperation”, while leaving out the specifics.

Indonesia has earmarked Rp 189 trillion ($10.5 billion) for the Defense Ministry in 2027. The budget stood at Rp 187 trillion ($10.4 billion). Despite the hike, Prabowo admitted that Indonesia’s military spending still fell behind its ASEAN neighbors.

Earlier that day, Sugiono officially passed the baton to Arrmanatha despite the cabinet shakeup having taken place more than a week ago. The latter was Sugiono’s deputy minister.

Add as a preferred source on Google +