I

ndonesia should stand out in creating the ASEAN Defense Industry Collaboration by not letting neighboring Malaysia make its proposal dominant in the plan, an expert says.

“Indonesia should initiate a consortium for the [planned] regional defense industry so that it won’t be dominated by Malaysia,” University of Indonesia military expert Andi Widjajanto told The Jakarta Post on Monday ahead of the ASEAN Defense Ministerial Meeting next week in Bali.

He said Indonesia could propose production of Airbus carriers it had already produced, or production of missile launchers on which state-owned military equipment producer PT Pindad and a Belgium company signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday.

“[Our proposal] will also show our self-sufficiency in the defense industry,” he said.

Malaysia has proposed that countries in the region jointly produce M4 carbines to replace the aging M16 rifles, with Malaysia already having a company ready to produce M4s.

The Malaysian company is licensed by United States-based weapons producer Lockheed Martin.

Malaysian Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi earlier said that the joint production would involve but was not limited to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

He said that the joint production would save up to 50 percent of US$25 billion in annual regional defense budget by 2030, as ASEAN countries would no longer need to import certain weapons from outside the region.

Andi said that producing weapons in the region would not violate the goals of the ASEAN Political and Security Community, which were intended to promote security and stability, as long as the weapons produced were meant for modernization.

“Malaysia is modernizing its aging M16s by producing the M4. We can do same by producing CN-295 aircraft to replace the old CN-235s,” he said.

There is already inter-ASEAN defense trade, as Singapore exports rocket launchers to Brunei, landing platform docks to Thailand and artillery to Indonesia.

Malaysia also exports military trucks to Brunei and Indonesia exports CN-235 aircraft to Malaysia and rifles to the Philippines.

ASEAN defense ministers will meet on Monday in the ASEAN Defense Ministerial Meeting in Bali after a senior officials’ meeting on Saturday and an informal meeting between them and US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on Sunday.

The ASEAN ministers would discuss a number of issues, including maritime security, disaster management, humanitarian assistance, terrorism mitigation and peacekeeping, Antara news agency reported.

“We will meet [US] Secretary of Defense Panetta to discuss a range of issues related to regional stability,” Hamidi said on Monday as quoted by Antara.

Defense Ministry spokesman Hartind Asrin was not available for comments by the time the Post tried to reach him.

Andi said that possible issues for discussion in the ADMM and the informal meeting between ASEAN and US defense ministers were humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, the regional defense industry consortium brought up by Malaysia and maritime security initiatives by each ASEAN country in line with the US’ global fight against terrorism.