REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The modernization of intelligence equipment should empower the national defense industry to ensure self-sufficiency and to minimize dependence on other countries, according to a legislator.
"The priority is to empower the national defense industry. If there is a need that cannot be met by the domestic industry, the government can import the necessary equipment," Deputy Chairman of Commission I of the House of Representatives Ahmad Hanafi Rais said here on Thursday.
Rais added that the government must accurately measure the effectiveness of the equipment imported from other countries.
"What cannot be fulfilled by national production can be imported from international sources. There are different levels of necessities of intelligence equipment," he stated.
With regard to equipment reference, Rais explained that they should be in accordance with the basic stance of Indonesia's foreign policy, i.e. independent and active.
"In addition, it should be balanced geopolitically between US-Japan-Europe and Russia-China," he remarked.
Earlier, Head of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) Sutiyoso had affirmed that he would modernize and enhance the agency's equipment to face future challenges.
"We should have sophisticated equipment to compete with foreign intelligence services. The lack of modern equipment is a technical problem that I cannot explain in detail," he said after his inauguration as the BIN chief at the State Palace here on Wednesday.
To modernize BIN's equipment, Sutiyoso plans to import tools from several countries that have advanced equipment, which can help to improve the agency's performance.
"I will import the equipment from a variety of references. We will take cues from developed countries such as Russia, America, and so on, as they are also part of an international intelligence community," he pointed out.
The modernization process will be carried out gradually in phases based on the availability of the state budget.
Sutiyoso will build a formidable and professional intelligence agency to face future challenges.
He also vowed to improve BIN's organizational structure by enhancing the capabilities of its human resources and equipment.
"The BIN should have advanced equipment to combat and anticipate radicalism and terrorism through the Internet and communications technology," he remarked.
Furthermore, Sutiyoso noted that the BIN will be more open to gathering comprehensive information from various sources.
"The community can provide any information to the BIN," he stressed.
Sutiyoso is a retired military official who served as the deputy commander general of the army's Special Force Command (Kopassus). Following his retirement, he headed the Jakarta provincial government for two terms between 2002 and 2012 before he was replaced by Fauzi Bowo.
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