Topic:
Country: Indonesia
Delegate Name: Maddy Fraaza
Maddy Fraaza
Mattawan High School
Indonesia
Reduction of Military Budget, as part of the DISEC
I.
In a world with so many opposing country views, conflict is a given. However, the nature of the
conflict is crucial to international relations, as small things can easily escalate into something
more violent, if not an all-out war. With the rate that many countries spend on their military
budgets, it seems that they prioritize preparation for conflict over peace, allowing military funds
to even surpass money set aside for their own personal economic growth. As of 2019, pre
pandemic era, an estimated 6.5% of the world’s funds were spent on militarization according to
the International Money Fund—one of the largest percentages to a single cause. Of course, in
post COVID-19 times that spending has fluctuated, but the issues regarding militarization funds
stay the same, as they have for the past 50 years amidst seemingly endless conflicts spanning
across the world. Recently, the UN has started taking the steps to a less violent community, with
a smaller focus on militarization and defensive spending and a larger one on the economic
growth of individual countries, especially developing ones. To paraphrase from the International
Money Fund once again, a 1% increase in military spending will decrease the economic growth
by 9% over a 20 year period, which can be especially detrimental to both smaller countries and
ones that allocate a large portion of their GDP to their military budget. The 2030 Agenda gives
the UN a chance to re-investigate and adjust previous historical disarmament initiatives, such as
the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) of 2014 or various other Disarmament, Demobilization, and
Reintegration Programs they have enacted as they see fit. This agenda will allow the UN to
reevaluate what there truly is to gain from an exorbitantly high military budget, and possibly
modify their principals to match.
II.
Indonesia is in the top 30 countries with the highest military budget in the world, with an average
of $9.9 billion spent a year (approximately 0.6% of the country’s GDP). However, even as the
27th highest military budget in the world, that number pales in comparison to some of the
surrounding countries. The most prevalent countries located in the same region as Indonesia are
Australia (with a budget of $33.3B), Singapore (with a $11.7B budget), Japan ($46B), and China
($292B). These countries, especially China and Japan with the state of some of their international
relations, present quite a large threat to Indonesia, especially if they choose to actively militarize
against Indonesia or some of its allies. With its proximity to some of the biggest military
spenders in the world, Indonesia could feel the need to spend more than they want to on
defensive spending. An increase in defense spending leaves less room for economic growth,
which is especially important in developing countries such as Indonesia that need the growth
opportunities, since they have a poverty rate of over 10% and overall a very low quality of life.
III.
The delegation of Indonesia urges its counterparts in the UN to evaluate continuing to increase
military budgets. Such costs would be much better allocated on growing the economy and
investing into the future of not just Indonesia, but the entire world. A higher investment in arms
control and disarmament means a long-term investment in peace and higher levels of overall
happiness and quality of life. By reducing overly huge military budgets like those of the United
States and China, taxpayer money could be reinvested into the economy to better things like
education and work more towards complete equality. Indonesia strongly supports more effort
towards disarmament and the reduction of military budgets because it would allow them to focus
on the more crucial parts of the country’s infrastructure, both visible and invisible.
