REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- House's Commission I Deputy Chairman on defense affairs Hanafi Rais said the establishment of a state defense program is important in view of traditional and nontraditional threats being faced by the Indonesian people.

"Such threats often come to the surface, such as the phenomenon of Indonesians being recruited by the terrorist networks, foreign cultural infiltration and certain cases in the border areas," Rais said here on Tuesday.

He appreciated the issue raised by Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu who had said that the discourse on state defense should not be understood within the frame of conscription concept.

Rais said those who volunteer to join the state defense program should follow it comprehensively.

"One cannot stop midway once he or she has chosen to join or has been assigned," he said.

"A number of state-owned companies (BUMN) have adopted the concept and the outputs are relatively good," the Commission I deputy chairman said.

He said the state defense program can cover general and special curriculum. The general curriculum can be related to the doctrine of the archipelagic concept and how to make a strategic decision.

"The special curriculum is related to the profession of the volunteers who join the program," he added.

House Speaker Setya Novanto will invite Chief Political, Legal and Security Minister Luhut Pandjaitan to seek an explanation about his idea of a state defense program.

"We should not hurry to arrive at a conclusion after hearing merely the polemics advanced by the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs to introduce his state defense concept. We should first hear out his explanation, and will summon him to discuss it," Novanto noted at the Parliament Building here on Tuesday.

He said if the state defense program had a good goal and underscores a sense of patriotism and dedication to the state and the nation, the House will be ready to deliberate on it and the budget required for it.

There has been talk that a state defense program will need a budget of Rp500 trillion. However, Novanto claimed not to have heard about it as yet. In a meeting with Novanto on Monday, Pandjaitan did not make any mention of the program or the budgetary requirement.

"I think Pak (Mr) Luhut Pandjaitan has not yet thought about such a large budget, and did not speak about the matter during yesterday's meeting when we discussed the handling of forest and land fires in the country," explained Novanto.

Deputy House Speaker Agus Hermanto had predicted that a huge sum would be required for the proposed state defense program, and therefore, the issue should be studied before it is implemented.

Hermanto pointed out that the state defense program bore similarity to the conscription program and was only different in its intensity and curriculum.

"Once, in the past, I had attended a state defense training program, and it was almost the same as the conscription program. What makes it different is its intensity and curriculum," Hermanto pointed out.

He affirmed that Indonesia also now needs to modernize its weaponry system, and therefore, the implementation of a state defense system, which would need a large amount of funds, was not timely.

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