Indonesian government has set higher spending budget for its military next year, to procure new weapons aimed at improving its primary weaponry system.

Besides increasing the budget for the military, government also increased budgets for public works, education, health, religious affairs ministries and police, according to a recent statement updated by the presidential cabinet secretariat's website.

Citing a draft by the National Development Planning Board ( Bappenas), the Cabinet Secretariat said that government would allocate 76.538 trillion rupiah (about $8.11 billion) of its budget next year to the Defense Ministry.

The 2013 allocation was higher than this year's set at 72.5 trillion rupiah (about $8 billion) that was 59 percent higher than in 2011. The military spending budget set for this year was above 1 percent from the country's total Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the first time in many years.

Defense Ministry Spokesman Hartind Asrin said recently that the high budget allocated to the ministry was due to the country's urgent plans to improve its military might by modernizing its aging combat vehicles, armament and weapon system, as well as plans to improve the wealth of its military personnel.

"We are planning to procure more weaponry to support our Army, Navy and Air Force, as has been drafted in our government's Strategic Plan (Renstra) for 2010 to 2014. We, for example, plan to procure fighter jets for the Air Force, submarines for the Navy and tanks and armored vehicles for the Army next year through multi-year procurement programs," Asrin said.

Indonesia is expecting more deliveries of Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets from Russia and Leopard main battle tank (MBT) from Germany in the next few years. Indonesia is also in process to procure AH- 64 attack helicopters from the United States to empower its army forces.

He added that the ministry would also focus on improving the welfare of military personnel, especially those based in border areas.

"We plan to increase the remuneration of military personnel to meet 40 percent of the welfare target next year, from this year's 34 percent, and will gradually increase it to 100 percent," he added.

According to an analysis conducted by international agency of Global Fire Power, Indonesian military is ranked at number 18 of 30 countries in the world this year, or dropped four levels from 14 last year.

The ranking was resulted from studies carried out by the agency on the number of troops, weapon system, naval power, logistic support, natural resources consisting of oil production, oil consumption and proven reserves.

Indonesia undoubtedly has the mightiest military in Southeast Asia region, or apparently mightier than Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.

The higher budget for the military next year was criticized by watchdog organizations as it is far higher than allocations for education and health sectors.

"The government should have prioritized programs that directly affect the people, such as education and health, especially because under prevailing laws, the government must allocate 20 per cent and 5 per cent of the state budget to education and health, respectively. I don't think there are any laws that require the government to allocate certain a percentage of the budget to the Defense Ministry," Coordinator of Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra), Ucok Sky Khadafi, said.

Instead of increasing the budget for procuring military armaments, government was urged to prioritize efforts to improve public education, health and the welfare of soldiers.

"Armed conflicts among countries are unlikely to occur in the near future as the international community has developed a culture of diplomacy. Therefore, I don't think there is any urgency to modernize our weaponry systems," Al Araf of human rights watchdog, Imparsial, said.