T

he Defense Ministry has been lambasted for a plan to train 100 million civilians in a state defense program within one decade.

The ministry argues that the program will ignite nationalism and that it is in line with Article 27 of the Constitution that stipulates that Indonesians have a right and the duty to defend the country.

The ministry will launch the program on Oct. 19, recruiting 4,500 people in 45 regencies to participate in a one-month training program.

The ministry believes that the 100 million recruited citizens will help overcome threats such as narcotics and terrorism.

Tubagus Hasanuddin, a legislator from House Commission I overseeing foreign affairs and defense, called the plan ambitious but one that lacked details for execution.

'€œThere are so many issues that need to be considered, including the target number, the budget and the regulations to implement the program,'€ said the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician on Monday.

According to Hasanuddin, if the government targets 100 million people within ten years, that would constitute at least one million people a year.

'€œWe don'€™t have the budget to accommodate the training,'€ Hasanuddin said, adding that the government would need a huge amount of money to hold training programs, as well as strong regulations to support and control the program.

Meanwhile, the executive director of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Harris Azhar said that the state defense program would not solve any problems in the country.

'€œMany people have their own ways of defending the country. The state should not be involved,'€ Harris said, adding that the program would only waste money and time.

He argued that instead of spending money for the program, the government should give money to improve people'€™s welfare.

'€œWe step backwards with this program,'€ he said.

Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu revealed Monday that the program to defend the state was very important because Indonesia had inadequate weaponry systems compared with other countries.

'€œThe most powerful force is support from its people. It will make our nation strong and ready to face any threat,'€ Ryamizard said.

Ryamizard said he believed that the program would create personal discipline, good personal performance, unity and solidarity among people, and would be able to reduce conflict among people.

'€œThese goals will be possible to achieve using this program,'€ he said.

According to him, people under 50 years of age should join the program, no matter what their backgrounds were.

'€œThis is a never-ending process. It should begin when an Indonesian is just a toddler and should last until he or she reaches university and goes to work,'€ Ryamizard said.

Ryamizard said that the threats were mostly non-military such as narcotics, diseases, cyber-crime, separatism and natural disasters.