TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Indonesia suggests Myanmar implement its own ‘Bela Negara’
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Deep talks -- Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu (left) discusses the effectiveness of Indonesia's Bela Negara (State Defense) program with his Myanmar counterpart, Defense Minister Sein Win (right), during a meeting in Vientiane on Nov. 15. (JP/Margareth S.Aritonang)
D
efense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu has suggested that Myanmar could implement its own version of his ministry’s widely criticized Bela Negara (State Defense) program as a way to tackle security challenges, including terrorism.
Speaking to his Myanmar counterpart, Defense Minister Sein Win, in a meeting in Vientiane on Tuesday, Ryamizard said the people’s force was more effective than any weapon in the fight against terrorism. This was one of the reasons Indonesia had developed the State Defense program, he went on.
“Weapons contribute only 1 percent in winning a fight against terrorism while people’s force accounts [for] 99 percent,” he said.
Ryamizard said Indonesia’s huge population of around 250 million was a great power to fight against terrorism, an ideology-based threat that was currently affecting the country with the largest Muslim population in the world.
“The Bela Negara program provides room for all 250 Indonesian people to face terrorist groups such as the IS [Islamic State] extreme group. All of the citizens must defend the country,” he stressed.
The Bela Negara program has raised criticism from various parties worried that it is an attempt to re-militarize the country. Some of them argued that training civilians with military skills, even if they were basic, might lead to clashes among people.
Responding such concerns, the Defense Ministry has repeatedly said that military training would only be provided to locals living in conflict-prone areas. (ebf)
