From the Indonesia site ANTARA NEWS, the report is that the House of Representatives` Commission I will reject a Defense Ministry`s plan to buy an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) from Israel with funds borrowed from Leumi Plc Bank.
"Two years ago, we reminded the Defense Ministry (Dephan) to discontinue its trade with Israel because we do not have diplomatic relation with that country," House Commission I member Djoko Susilo said on Monday. However, the politician from the National Mandate Party (PAN) said the ministry seemed to persist in its plan to buy the aircraft from Israel, and its plan was now being finalized while the needed funds, totaling US$16 million, were to be provided by the London branch of an Israeli bank. "The House`s Commission I has unanimously agreed to reject the defense ministry`s plan, and the PAN faction at the DPR will even reject it bluntly," Djoko Susilo said.
He said the defense ministry could actually buy such an aircraft from another country, and even the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) would be able to make the aircraft, although the UAV would not be as sophisticated as the one that had been planned to purchase from Israel. "If the ministry wants to buy the UAV, it can buy it from another country such as the United States. But we do not understand why the ministry insists on buying it from Israel,"