Cutting aid to RI -- does it send a message?<\/p>\n
By Jim Anderson<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON (DPA): U.S. National Security Adviser Sandy Berger,
\naccompanying President Clinton in East Asia, said last Friday
\nthat nothing has been ruled out in possible U.S. actions against
\nthe Indonesian government now that it was clear the Indonesian
\nmilitary is directly participating in the violence in East Timor.<\/p>\n
The U.S. government took the mainly symbolic action of cutting
\noff a military training program for about 20 Indonesian military
\nofficers. That led some members of the U.S. Congress to urge for
\nan end to the much larger economic assistance program for
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
But U.S. officials have made it clear that they see no point
\nin slashing or freezing the economic program, which amounts to
\nabout US$85 million for the current year.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
\njustified their point by saying in a statement, \"Indonesia is
\ngrappling with a complex crisis of mutually reinforcing
\npolitical, economic and social dimensions. Its success in
\nresolving the crisis carries significant implications for U.S.
\ninterests.\"<\/p>\n
Although the U.S. program is relatively small compared to
\nWorld Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) financial
\nassistance, the United States plays a sort of platoon leader's
\nrole. Other donors, including Japan and the IMF, tend to follow
\nthe American lead, giving Washington a large amount of leverage.<\/p>\n
Some Timorese leaders, including Nobel Peace Prize winner and
\nindependence movement leader Jose Ramos-Horta, have called for a
\nhalt in American financial assistance to the Indonesian
\ngovernment as a powerful signal of international revulsion at
\nwhat is going on in East Timor.<\/p>\n
But even Ramos-Horta stops short of suggesting an end to
\nhumanitarian aid.<\/p>\n
The question then becomes: What is humanitarian aid and what
\nis not?<\/p>\n
For example, there is $13.5 million in the USAID package for
\nchild survival and disease prevention. Surely that is
\nhumanitarian. And so is another $11.5 million in food aid for a
\ncountry where one-fifth of the 200 million people live below the
\npoverty line and the per-capita income dropped last year from
\n$1,200 per year to $400.<\/p>\n
Or what about a program designed to reform and restart the
\ncountry's financial system, where banks have virtually ceased
\noperations? The problem there is that without a banking system,
\nbusinesses have ceased to hire workers or stock up on new
\nsupplies, resulting in a 33 percent unemployment rate and a
\ncurrency that is worth about one-third of what it was 18 months
\nago.<\/p>\n
Also, since the financial sector has stopped operating, so
\nhave most of the large commercial distribution systems, resulting
\nin sky-rocketing food prices, which in turn have fueled looting
\nand burning of rice warehouses.<\/p>\n
Well, then, how about cutting the technical aid designed to
\npreserve the country's remarkably diverse biological system? That
\nwill help lead to a further destruction of the country's primary
\nfew and an increase in the deliberate burning down of forests to
\nturn it into agricultural land. Last year, the massive burning
\ncreated a huge trans-national haze that affected much of the rest
\nof the region, including tourism and even air traffic safety.<\/p>\n
The same questions arise about other programs in the USAID
\npackage, including the one for strengthening independent media,
\npromoting human rights, and helping draw up new transparency laws
\nthat would have the effect of ending at least some of Indonesia's
\nendemic corruption and crony system.<\/p>\n
The dilemma appears to be this: A foreign aid program that is
\neffective is worth keeping, even if it does have the unintended
\nconsequence of giving support to a government that fails to
\nrespond to international outrage.<\/p>",
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