Britain monitoring use of Scorpion tanks<\/p>\n
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia defended on Monday the use of British-made Scorpion
\nlight tanks in the Aceh offensive as the United Kingdom continued
\nto keep a wary eye open for any misuses of the war machines.<\/p>\n
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said on Monday
\nthat any military equipment sold to Indonesia was on the basis
\nthat it would not be used offensively or in such as way as to
\nviolate human rights.<\/p>\n
\"The deployment of Scorpion tanks per se is not necessarily in
\nviolation of any assurances, but it is a question of how they use
\nthose tanks. We are monitoring the situation,\" the office said as
\nquoted by Reuters.<\/p>\n
London was commenting on the deployment of 36 tanks bought by
\nIndonesia from Britain in the mid-1990s as part of the ongoing
\nmilitary operation to crush Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels.<\/p>\n
Former defense minister Juwono Sudarsono acknowledged that
\nIndonesia had entered into a gentleman's agreement with Britain
\nwhen purchasing Hawk warplanes and Scorpion tanks that the
\nequipment would only be used for \"defense purposes\".<\/p>\n
\"However, there were no explanations as to what the term
\n\"defense purposes\"meant as it was an understanding and not a
\nwritten agreement between the two sides,\" Juwono, who is taking
\nup an ambassadorial posting in London, told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
He said the government at the time was represented by the then
\nmilitary chief, Gen. (ret) Feisal Tandjung, and his predecessor,
\nGen. (ret) L.B. Moerdani, during the purchase negotiations.<\/p>\n
Juwono, who was the deputy governor of the military think
\ntank, the National Resilience Institute, when the purchase took
\nplace, said the term \"defense\" was open to interpretation as
\nJakarta considered the military operation in Aceh a self-defense
\naction to protect the territorial integrity of the country.<\/p>\n
In his visit here last month, British Foreign Office Minister
\nMike O'Brien questioned the use of Hawk jet fighters in Aceh, and
\nwarned of possible damage to the military relationship between
\nthe two countries.<\/p>\n
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu defended on Monday
\nthe deployment of the Scorpion tanks, saying that they would
\nguard trucks carrying basic necessities traveling on the main
\nroad connecting Medan in North Sumatra and Banda Aceh, which was
\n\"prone to rebel ambushes\".<\/p>\n
\"We (the TNI) have to maintain security along the route so
\nthat public transportation and supplies are not halted due to
\nsecurity problems,\" Ryamizard told reporters.<\/p>\n
He said no country had the right to prevent the Indonesian
\nmilitary from using its hardware as long as this was not intended
\nto harm civilians.<\/p>",
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