JAKARTA. Indonesia is set to modernize its primary defense systems (alutsista) in order to strengthen the country's defense capabilities.

In a limited meeting held at the Presidential Office in Jakarta on Monday, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said Indonesia’s current defense budget amounted to 1.1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), slightly up from previous allocations of 0.89 percent of GDP in 2015 and 0.79 percent in 2014.

Jokowi added that with targeted economic growth of 6 percent, Indonesia’s defense budgetary allocation would increase to 1.5 percent of GDP, worth around Rp 250 trillion (US$18.66 billion).

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"It’s a very large amount. This should be anticipated from now on. There should be proper and detailed planning so the budget allocation will be well-targeted and well-planned from the very beginning," Jokowi said.

With such defense system development, he hoped the Indonesian Military would be ready to anticipate threats in the future as geographically, two-thirds of the country’s territorial area was sea. Such a geographical situation would affect the constellation of warfare in the future, the President said.

"I’m really aware that to build a professional and respected Indonesian Military, we should be able to meet our defense equipment requirements" he added.

Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said the country's defenses needed to be developed to protect the archipelago.

"The President wants to know the strength of military capacity needed to secure and maintain the vast territory of this country. Moreover, we know Indonesia is an archipelagic country; so, early readiness of our defenses is very important," he told reporters. (Ayomi Amindoni)