Govt to raise budgets for military, police: president

"The increase in the defense and police budget allocations is meant to ensure that defense and security tasks can be carried out properly," he said in his address marking the opening of a national conference of the Retired and Elderly Military and Police Personnel Association (Pepabri) and Retired Servicemen`s and Policemen`s Wives` Association (Perip) at the Merdeka Palace here Wednesday.

Speaking before around 250 retired military and police personnel, the head of state said he did not want Indonesian soldiers to lag behind those of neighboring countries in terms of modern weaponry.

In the 2007 state budget, the government had proposed that the defense budget be raised to Rp31.1 trillion consisting of Rp11.9 trillion for the Army, Rp4.3 trillion for the Indonesian Military Headquarters, Rp4.7 trillion for the Navy, Rp3.6 trillion for the Air Force and Rp6.5 trillion for the Defense Ministry, he said.