To maintain the sovereignty of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia - Republic of Indonesia, the government plans to buy 100 Leopard tanks from the Netherlands. For the fulfillment of the main tools of weapons systems   or defense equipment, until 2014, the government has allocated a budget of 150 trillion rupiah. 50 billion for procurement, 50 trillion for the treatment, and 50 trillion for domestic production respectively.The budget allocation was stated in Presidential Decree on the Acceleration of Basic Minimum Power Fulfillment of military defense equipment 2010-2014, signed on December 27, 2011. However, the planned purchase of defense equipment that has received criticism from lawmakers. They assess the Leopard Tank is less suited to the region of Indonesia.

The tank purchase plan is actually quite realistic and in accordance with needs. Because  to fit the needs of military and defense equipment in the future challenges of the modern, this is  not inevitable. Moreover, apart from being old, the number of combat equipment owned by the the Indonesian Military TNI is  still far left behind if  compared to neighboring countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam. Singapore which nevertheless is a  small country has about four hundred tanks. So it is only natural if the Indonesian military wanted to meet the needs of defense equipment to catch up with them and to secure the Indonesian area which is very vast. In addition to providing security for the nation and state, it takes an adequate combat equipment, to ward off the threat of the enemy.

Moreover, Indonesia's economic growth has also been getting better, therefore the modernization of military defense equipment need to be supported. Still need to be underlined is that a purchase must match the geographical characteristics  or terrain in Indonesia. Geographically, Indonesia a hilly region which  requires a suitable and multifunctional defense equipment. The weight of a Leopard tank that reached about 63 tons is  deemed less appropriate to the geographical condition of Indonesia which should use a lighter combat vehicles.

Indeed, to meet the demand for the fulfillment of the main tools of weapons systems   or defense equipment    it needs  various studies, and careful consideration, such as what defense equipment  are properly  and  correctly in accordance with the needs of the state and nation today. Nevertheless we hope that with the more modern defense equipment owned by the TNI, it will  show that Indonesia is a  great and strong nation. That was VOI commentary