RI`s navy to get another submarine: legislator
rhsukarsa
Indonesia submarine KRI Cakra.
June 8, 2009, Jakarta -- The Indonesian Navy will soon get another submarine, Yusron Ihza Mahendra, deputy chairman of Commission I of the House of Representatives, said here on Sunday.
"The plan has already been discussed in a meeting between a House`s Commission I delegation and the government led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Saturday evening," Mahendra told ANTARA.
The joint meeting was also attended among others by the coordinating minister for political, legal and security Affairs, the defense minister, the chief of the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI), the National Police chief, the law and human rights minister, the deputy foreign affairs minister, and the chief of the Indonesian Intelligence Agency (BIN).
Among members of the House`s Commission I who attended the meeting were Yusron Ihza (Pioneer Star joint faction, concurrently the team`s chairman), Happy Bone Zulkarnaen (Golkar faction), Andreas Pareira ( Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle/PDIP), Joko Susilo (National Mandate Party/PAN), Shidiq Wahab (Democratic Party), as well as Chairman of the Commission I Theo L Sambuaga (Golkar Party).
The meeting also discussed the need to increase the defense budget, including a plan to increase the number of submarines, he said.
The discussed issues on the Ambalat block conflict involving Indonesia and Malaysia.
"And the Indonesian Government has given support to our delegation which has made diplomatic contacts in Kuala Lumpur," he said.
"The President on behalf of the Indonesian government has expressed full support to the steps taken by the House`s Commission I delegation to go to Malaysia in connection with the Ambalat issue," he said.
"The Commission I in the meeting emphasized the need to rebuild the domestic defense industry, and the proposal was welcomed by the President," Yusron Ihza Mahendra said.
(ANTARA News)
