T

he defense budget is not a key factor in the ongoing spate of military aircraft accidents but rather the efficiency of the way the allocated money is spent, according to military observers.

Seven military aircraft have crashed so far this year, killing nearly 200 people.

On June 12, an Air Force SA-330 Puma helicopter crashed in Bogor, West Java, killing four and injuring three. Four days earlier, an Army NBO-105 helicopter crashed in South Cianjur, West Java, killing three officers and injuring two others.

On May 20, an Air Force C-130 Hercules heavy transport aircraft crashed in Magetan, East Java, killing 101 people. In Bandung, West Java, an Air Force Fokker-27 burst into flames after crashing into a hangar on April 6, killing six crew and 24 passengers on-board.

A military observer from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Jaleswari Pramowardhani, said the crashes were not directly related to the military's budget.

"If the budget is increased, will there be no more crashes? I don't think a bigger budget can guarantee that no more crashes will occur," she told a talkshow recently.

However, she acknowledged that the government spends less on defense than previous administrations.

"During the Sukarno era in the 1960s, the defense budget reached 29 percent of GDP. Now, it's only 1 percent or about Rp 30 trillion (US$2.97 billion)," she said.

Umar Juoro, an economics observer from the Center for Information and Development Studies (CIDES), told the same talkshow that the optimum budget for the Indonesia Military (TNI) would be Rp 100 trillion.

"But it would be impossible to allocate that much, at least not in the next few years," he said.

"I think the defense budget can only be increased by Rp 8 trillion or Rp 10 trillion at the most. Otherwise, other sectors will have to be sacrificed."

Both Jaleswari and Umar suggested the government focus on efficient spending inside the Indonesian Military (TNI) and optimize local military industries such as aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia, shipbuilder PT PAL, and arms manufacturer PT Pindad.

"By using local products and reducing dependence on foreign products, the TNI can save a lot of money,

"Speaking about efficiency, we all know that corruption has been spread out all over sectors including the military," Umar said.

Several recently studies have declared the military among the top-ten most corrupt institutions in Indonesia.

However, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is not allowed by law to *trespass the TNI border' to investigate alleged graft within the military.

Another potential way to cut unnecessary military expenditure is to liquidate TNI's territorial command units including the Kodam, Kodim and Koramil.