Indonesia needs more 'carrot' and less 'stick'<\/p>\n
By Edward Neilan<\/p>\n
TOKYO (JP): What Indonesia needs from the United States and
\nthe rest of the West is more \"carrot\" and less \"stick\".<\/p>\n
Leadership needs to be offered to the important nation which
\nhas been devastated by an economic crisis not unlike the U.S.
\nGreat Depression.<\/p>\n
The endless lectures by foreigners from the International
\nMonetary Fund (IMF) showing up in Jakarta and World Bank threats
\nabout ending \"crony capitalism\" should be junked. Western
\nembargoes should be undone, United Nations sanctions lifted and
\npositive measures implemented. The world should give Indonesia a
\nsweeping amnesty for its supposed transgressions and allow
\nJakarta a fresh start.<\/p>\n
What is needed is no less than a revolution in the nation's
\ninstitutions. As an aside, at a conference last year, former U.S.
\nsecretary of state Henry Kissinger said \"Why is it that the
\nUnited States is always left with the role of rebuilding, of
\npicking up the pieces? Where are the Europeans, the Japanese?\"<\/p>\n
One thing the United States could do right away -- with
\nIndonesian approval -- is to restore military cooperation with
\nthe Indonesia's armed forces (ABRI).<\/p>\n
This suggestion is bound to evoke wails of protest by those
\nwho see the ABRI as responsible for the situation in East Timor
\nincluding a series of appalling abuses earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Attempts to reform the military are essential because of the
\nABRI's strong role in Indonesian society and the realization that
\nfurther dehumanization of the military would only lead to
\n\"another Myanmar.\" Change has to start somewhere and the military
\nis an excellent departure point.<\/p>\n
The U.S should not cooperate or conduct exercises with the
\nIndonesian special forces or paramilitary units suspected of the
\nabuses.<\/p>\n
\"It should cooperate,\" as Heritage Foundation research John T.
\nDori said recently, \"with less political branches of Indonesia's
\nmilitary, like the air force and the navy. The United States
\nshould also praise Indonesian efforts to place the military under
\ngreater civilian control.\"<\/p>\n
One way to promote military reform would be the restoration of
\nthe U.S. International Military Education and Training program
\nwith Indonesia. This program allows foreign military officers to
\nstudy in the United States and witness firsthand the relationship
\nbetween the U.S. military and civil society.<\/p>\n
Former president Soeharto suspended Indonesian participation
\nin the program in June 1997 because of U.S. congressional
\ncriticisms of human rights abuses in East Timor. \"Both the
\nClinton administration and Congress should make clear their
\ninterest in resuming this program,\" Dori said.<\/p>\n
Similar reforms should be pursued, in other areas of society,
\nsuch as education and management. The stress of assistance should
\nbe know-how and butter, not guns.<\/p>\n
In strategic context, East Timor is a sideshow posing as the
\nmain event. Brutal factionalism existed all during the Portuguese
\nera of control, due partly to the Christian religion background
\nof the Timorese with incidents fanned by a vocal overseas
\ndiaspora.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, Portugal and United Nations authorities are trying
\nto set guidelines for an election in July to decide between
\nindependence or more autonomy within Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, after all, is the world's fourth-largest nation at
\n209,774,138 (1997 estimate). It could become the third-largest
\ndemocracy after the United States and India.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is important to the security of the United States
\nand Japan and South Korea. Indonesia's islands are astride
\nstrategic sealanes connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans
\nthrough which passes 40 percent of the world's shipping,
\nincluding 80 percent of Japan's oil supply and 70 percent of
\nSouth Korea's.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has been a welcome moderating force in the Islamic
\nworld as the world's most populous Muslim state.<\/p>\n
As a champion of reforms in its transition to a democratic
\npolitical system, the United States should reward Indonesia,
\nparticularly if progress can be made in reducing levels of
\nviolence and human rights abuses.<\/p>\n
An invitation for Indonesia President B.J. Habibie to visit
\nWashington would be appropriate if parliamentary elections set
\nfor June 7 go off smoothly. He is at least as worthy a guest as
\nChina's Premier Zhu Rongji who recently received red-carpet
\ntreatment in the U.S. despite China's shaky record on human
\nrights.<\/p>\n
The writer is a Tokyo-based veteran analyst of Northeast Asian
\naffairs and a media fellow at Hoover Institution, Stanford
\nUniversity.<\/p>",
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