Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto has ordered his soldiers to train hard even though Indonesia is currently not at war, while warning that foreign groups are after the country's abundant natural resources.

Prabowo gathered some of his militarymen at their Cilangkap headquarters on Monday as the national armed forces marked its 81st anniversary.

According to the ex-army general, the celebration came at a time when threats are “no longer limited to physical attacks”. Indonesia is now “under attack” by rampant misinformation that aims to harm the economy. Unnamed groups have been smuggling Indonesia’s resources out of the country.

“Natural resource theft and smuggling are a threat to our sovereignty. Narcotics smuggling threatens our survival,” Prabowo said.

“Our armed forces must continue to adapt [to these changes]. Learn, learn, and learn. Practice, practice, and practice. We must make use of this peacetime to prepare against threats, even the worst ones.”

He repeated Jakarta’s stance of not wanting to disturb anyone, while expecting others to do the same.

“We [Indonesia] love peace. … We respect all countries and powers. We don’t want to be disturbed. We want to protect our people, land, and wealth to make our citizens prosper.”

Prabowo has been fretting about illegal exploitation and its resources being sold overseas at unfair prices.

The ex-defense minister has been seeking tighter control of the country’s economy following reports that the mineral-rich Indonesia had lost a total of $908 billion from decades of fraudulent trade practices.

Prabowo has even instructed exports of palm oil, coal, and ferroalloys to go through a designated body under the sovereign fund Danantara. The country even has a militarized crackdown on illegal palm oil cultivation and mining.

The current administration also does not shy away from new arms purchases, with the Indonesian leader recently comparing Indonesia’s defense spending to that of Singapore. The close neighbor —  despite only being slightly bigger than Jakarta in size —  keeps its military spending at 3% of its gross domestic product (GDP). The ratio for Indonesia averages at around 0.9% of GDP each year, putting it among the smallest in ASEAN. 

For 2026, the Defense Ministry gets to spend no more than Rp 187 trillion ($10.4 billion), with a large part of the money earmarked for military modernization. The cap will rise to Rp 189 trillion ($10.5 billion) next year. The annual budget for the armed forces taken out of the ministry’s allocation is around the Rp 5 trillion ($278.8 million) mark.

Add as a preferred source on Google +