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.

Jakarta Post

Cuts to security budget stir worries

Police insist budget cuts won’t affect performance RI faces serious security challenge from returning IS fighters, mass rallies.

Haeril Halim and Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post)
Premium
Jakarta
Sat, August 19, 2017

Share This Article

Change Size

Cuts to security budget stir worries Some police officers guard the Ibnu Mas’ud pesantren (Islamic boarding school) after a man reportedly burns of a red-and-white umbul-umbul decorative flag on Wednesday (Aug. 16), a day before the Independence Day. (kompas.com/Ramdhan Triyadi Bempah)

S

a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/06/14/kpu-starts-preparations-of-simultaneous-regional-elections.html" target="_blank">Simultaneous regional elections in major provinces and the rising threat of terrorism have not moved policymakers into heightening security measures next year as the proposed state budget cuts back on spending designed to keep the public safe.

The cut has raised concerns over the priorities in the budget as the country will need to deploy extra security personnel to safeguard the VVIPs during next year’s annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Bali, in addition to the Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra.

The events will be held at a time when Indonesia is currently overwhelmed by the incoming flow of returning Islamic State (IS) movement jihadists from Syria, Iraq and now the Philippines.

In his proposed budget for next year, delivered to the House of Representatives on Wednesday, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo apparently reduced the allocation for security by 23 percent to Rp 113 trillion (US$15 billion).

Under the allocation, the budget for the National Police has been severely lowered by 24 percent to Rp 77.8 trillion.

Read also: Police probe shooting at Freeport

According to the 2018 budget proposal, the decline in the security allocation is attributable to the decision to allocate more of the money for security this year.

to Read Full Story

We accept

TJP - Visa
TJP - Mastercard
TJP - GoPay
{

Your Opinion Counts

Your thoughts matter - share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.