from stratfor website
On April 6, an air force Fokker F-27 — another, smaller transport aircraft — crashed in Bandung, West Java, killing the 24 officers aboard. On May 11, an air force C-130 skidded on a runway in Wamena, West Papua, after the rear wheels fell off upon landing. That incident triggered a review of the C-130s, including several that had recently been refitted in Singapore as part of a military program to upgrade and maintain the transport aircraft. Other upgrades were taking place at Indonesian air force facilities, some by crews trained in Singapore.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called a special meeting of defense officials and ordered the air force to investigate the most recent accident, which occurred during good weather and is speculated to be related to mechanical issues. After the crash, Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono noted the low budget for military equipment, a sentiment echoed by Vice President Yusuf Kalla (who is running against Yudhoyono in presidential elections in July).
Yudhoyono denied cuts were made to maintenance budgets, saying that only non-immediate purchases were delayed. But the issue is becoming another focus of the presidential campaign and, more significantly, highlights the problems still facing the Indonesian armed forces even four years after the end of a nearly 15-year military equipment embargo by the United States saw the degradation of the Indonesian military’s aircraft.
From east to west, Indonesia is broader than the continental United States, but its population (comparable to that of the United States) is spread across some 17,000 islands. Two of its biggest islands are actually split with other countries (Borneo with Malaysia and Brunei, and Papua with Papua New Guinea, while the smaller island of Timor has been split since East Timor’s independence). Others are so isolated from Jakarta that they are effectively independent little fiefdoms.
Indeed, Indonesia is a geographically artificial entity, created as an outgrowth of the anti-colonial movements that emerged after World War II. It encompasses not only thousands of separate islands, but also numerous ethnic and religious groups, languages and cultures. Political control is centered in Java, but the heavy population concentrated there relies on the other islands’ resources for survival. Thus, the center must be able to react quickly to any potential trouble throughout the archipelago and maintain a strong hold over the various other islands. Though naval power initially would appear to be critical (and it is), ships can take days — or even a week — to load up and move to a hot spot.
Ships can provide ongoing support and can move heavier equipment, but for Jakarta to govern its territory, transport aircraft like the C-130 and the F-27 are absolutely essential. Only with aircraft of that size, capable of landing on rough, short, austere airstrips, can Indonesia move and sustain company- and battalion-sized formations anywhere in its territory.
In short, Indonesia’s recent failures to properly maintain these aircraft — along with its notoriously atrocious air safety record, both military and civilian — are a problem of profound significance because they go to the heart of Jakarta’s ability to control its territory. If it cannot clamp down quickly, it risks seeing its territory fracturing. The resurgence of unrest in West Papua offers an example of just how difficult it is for the Indonesian armed forces and security apparatus to respond without effective air transport.
On May 17, a group of villagers seized the local airstrip in the remote Kapeso village and reportedly raised the flag of the Free Papua Movement, which has been fighting a low-level insurgency for independence for decades. With the airstrip closed, local authorities have been forced to rely on boats to transport Mobile Police and Special Detachment 88 anti-terrorism units via rivers to the remote location — a process that will take several days. Already there have been communication disruptions between the moving units and their bases, as cell and radio communications are hampered by the terrain and lack of infrastructure development. And while this is just a small, isolated incident, it emphasizes the significance of air transportation in maintaining the integrity of Indonesia’s sprawling island chain.