Soekarno bought used defense equipment during the war? These are the Actual Facts

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – In the third debate for the 2024 presidential election, Sunday (7/1/2024), presidential candidate number 2, Prabowo Subianto, said that President Soekarno used used combat equipment during the West Irian liberation war.

“I remind you, when Bung Karno faced West Irian, all his equipment was second-hand. Pak Ganjar, Bung Karno, all the airplanes, submarines, cruisers, destroyers, were all second-hand. So, we also still use a lot, until now, second-hand aircraft,” he said.

Prabowo's statement then made the Secretary General of PDIP, Hasto Kristiyanto, speak up. He denied Prabowo's statement regarding the purchase of used defense equipment during the Soekarno era.

“Pak Prabowo's statement during Bung Karno's time also used second-hand equipment, but that is a different context. Bung Karno used a lot of new equipment to liberate West Irian, such as equipment from Yugoslavia, some of which was even used to liberate Algeria,” he said.

What are the historical facts regarding defense equipment during the West Irian War?

For the record, the West Irian War or the People's Tri Command Operation (Trikora) was part of the liberation of Papuan land by the Indonesian Armed Forces. At that time, the Indonesian military wanted to take over the land of Papua which since August 17 1945 had been in Dutch hands.

To support this operation, the Indonesian government then sought military support from the two major powers at that time, namely the United States and the Soviet Union.

However, after the US could not be expected to obtain sophisticated weapons to face the Dutch in Papua, President Soekarno finally turned to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc colleagues could more reasonably expect to acquire advanced weapons than America.

Soekarno also sent two Indonesian officials to carry out diplomacy with the communist country in 1960.

“Bung Karno sent the Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Subandrio and General Abdul Haris Nasution to Moscow to purchase weapons whose price reached US$ 250 million,” admitted Maulwi Saelan in Testimony of Deputy Commander Tjakrabirawa (2008:292-293).

Apart from that, other notes were also revealed by historian MC Rickfles in History of Modern Indonesia (1999). He noted that in January 1960 Khrushchev (PM of the Soviet Union) visited Jakarta and provided credit of US$ 250 million to Indonesia.

Then, in January 1961 Nasution (Indonesian Defense Minister) went to Moscow and obtained a loan of US$ 450 million in arms from the Soviet Union. All of this is not in the form of money, but in the form of military assistance with weapons.

According to Ricklefs, this assistance largely fell into the hands of the Air Force and Navy, which Sukarno considered more cooperative.

It was recorded that afterwards Indonesia received 12 submarines, 22 fast missile boats, 4 minesweepers, and the KRI Irian which became the largest warship owned by a country in the Southern Hemisphere. Meanwhile, the Air Force received dozens of supersonic hunter aircraft, MiG 15 aircraft and long-range Tu-16 Tupolev bombers.

So far it is difficult to know whether all the military aid from the Soviet Union was used fleet or not. One thing that is certain is the fact that Soviet assistance made the Indonesian military stronger because it used weapons and war technology used by superpowers. It could be said that the Indonesian military was at the same level as the Soviet Union.

Regardless of whether the fleet was used or not, the Soviet Union's weapons assistance then succeeded in defeating the Dutch military. The ship Irian 201, dozens of submarines and bombers succeeded in sinking the Dutch HNLMS Karel Doorman. In the end, this success earned Indonesia respect and then opened the way for negotiations regarding West Irian.

[Gambas:Video CNBC]

(mfa/sef)