Exporting violence<\/p>\n
Has the average Indonesian good reason to be grateful to
\nBritish Foreign Minister, Ben Bradshaw, for his recent
\nannouncement that the United Kingdom is once again deigning to
\nresume arms sales to this country, providing, of course, that the
\nIndonesian military (TNI) honors its assurances? Mr. Bradshaw
\nconveniently forgot to tell us how Indonesians are going to
\nbenefit from this great privilege he is once again granting.<\/p>\n
No neighbor of Indonesia is doing any saber rattling, so
\nexternal threats cannot be the justification. In fact,
\nIndonesia's ASEAN partners' all-too-amicable relations with each
\nother are enticing the media to, instead, serve us up the
\nquestionable conviction of \"experts\" and the British and U.S.
\nembassies that international terrorists pose a growing threat.<\/p>\n
Incredibly, we are also being told, by American columnists
\nwriting in East Asian newspapers, that Indonesia needs to avail
\nitself of American military help if it is to survive intact.<\/p>\n
The U.S. is, of course, the world's biggest arms manufacturer
\nand companies such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop
\nGrumman make enormous profits out of exporting violence. As a
\nresult of the oppression that is facilitated by these U.S. arms,
\nother U.S. companies gain lucrative access to oil and minerals in
\nvarious places around the world.<\/p>\n
Since more countries will soon be vying with each other to
\njump onto this weapons bandwagon, Indonesians might like to take
\na moment to ask the old chicken and egg question. Which came
\nfirst: the massacres, oppression and expansionism of Indonesia or
\nWestern military arms, training and funds? In fact, by 1963 the
\nU.S. had equipped 43 battalions of the Indonesian army, trained
\nhundreds of officers and provided funding to the tune of US$60.9
\nmillion to Soeharto's right-wing military faction. Furthermore,
\nwhile Sukarno had toyed with military expansionism, it was the
\nQuisling-dictator, Soeharto, who invaded East Timor only twenty-
\nfour hours after a visit by U.S. President Ford and Secretary of
\nState, Henry Kissinger. It must, therefore, be seriously
\nquestioned whether the 1965-66 massacre and the invasion of East
\nTimor would have taken place without the Western-sponsored
\nmilitary build-up.<\/p>\n
So crucial are arms sales to some Western countries that both
\nthe U.S. and the British governments have, for instance, been
\nwilling to violate their own laws on supplying arms to erstwhile-
\nfriendly tyrants like, for example, Saddam Hussein of Iraq. Both
\nthese countries also courted the now disgraced, General Prabowo,
\nand played a critical role in training the elite Indonesian
\nforce, Kopassus, which is heavily implicated in the East Timor
\ndebacle. Britain, a major supplier of arms to Indonesia, not only
\nwent out of its way to provide financial guarantees for the sale
\nof Hawk jets to Indonesia; but also trained Indonesian pilots in
\nsimulators to strafe villages. Such a skill is obviously
\nessential for the external defense of Indonesia!<\/p>\n
In short, therefore, Mr. Bradshaw would be doing Indonesians a
\ngreat favor if he were to collect up his deadly manufactures and
\nreturn to Britain without conferring any more of his unwanted
\nindulgences.<\/p>\n
FRANK RICHARDSON<\/p>\n
Tangerang, West Java<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/exporting-violence-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }