Putting military 'meat' on diplomatic 'bones'<\/p>\n
By Damien Kingsbury<\/p>\n
VICTORIA, Australia (JP): Following the successful if largely
\nsymbolic visit by Prime Minister John Howard to President
\nMegawati Soekarnoputri, the question now facing ministers and
\nsenior bureaucrats in Australia and Indonesia is how to put
\npolicy 'meat' on the repaired diplomatic 'bones'. This will be
\nthe substantial test of how the previously damaged bilateral
\nrelationship develops.<\/p>\n
Fleshing out the relationship comes in three guises; aid,
\ntrade and military links. Australia's aid program to Indonesia
\nremains small compared with some, but comprises a large part of
\nthe Australian aid budget. And it is well targeted and a useful
\nmeans of expressing support for the people of the archipelago,
\nespecially in the less developed eastern islands.<\/p>\n
In terms of trade, while Indonesia has shown signs of economic
\nrecovery, including a more stable currency, what amounts to a
\nforeign investment strike continues. And Australia is a part of
\nthat. The reasons include a banking sector and judiciary that
\nremain untrusted, an enormous and unsustainable level of foreign
\ndebt, and a process of economic decentralization that is in
\nadministrative disarray. A few Australian companies are still in
\nIndonesia trying to ride out the problems, but they are looking
\nto a long term future well beyond most shareholders' patience.<\/p>\n
But the most difficult area for renewed Australian links with
\nIndonesia is military cooperation. Even when Australian soldiers
\nand what might politely be called Indonesian "irregulars" were
\nshooting at each other along the border of East Timor a year ago,
\nsenior officers at the Indonesian army's staff training and
\ncommand college (Seskoad) at Bandung were expressing a desire to
\nresume military links.<\/p>\n
That call was repeated, during the visit to Jakarta, to Howard
\nby the recently reappointed Coordinating Minister for Political
\nand Security Affairs, (retired Lt-Gen.) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
\nYudhoyono was the primary architect of the Indonesian military's
\n"New Paradigm", which was intended to reform and depoliticize the
\narmed forces. He remains close to the core officer group of the
\nmilitary (TNI), and on both the subject of reform and renewing
\nlinks with the Australian Defense Force (ADF) their views are
\nessentially the same.<\/p>\n
There are three reasons for the TNI wanting to rebuild links
\nwith an army they have, on the surface, been hostile towards. The
\nfirst reason is that there are genuine skills to be learned. The
\nsecond and more important reason is that, cut off from U.S.
\nmilitary aid, the TNI sees links with the Australian Defense
\nForce as being a "back door" to the United States. This is
\nespecially so at a time when US Secretary of Defense, Donald
\nRumsfeld is trying to convince Congress to resume US military aid
\nto the TNI, and Australian assessment is increasingly seen as the
\nbarometer of Indonesian politics.<\/p>\n
The third reason for wanting to renew links is because two
\ncountries with military cooperation are much less likely to want
\nto attack each other. For all the paranoia that can exist in
\nAustralia, there is no desire in Indonesia for military
\nconfrontation with Australia, or anyone else. The TNI exists
\nprimarily to maintain Indonesia's territorial integrity. And, for
\nresuming military ties, that is the problem.<\/p>\n
Ties were cut, from Australia's perspective, because of the
\nTNI's role in the mayhem surrounding the East Timor ballot of
\n1999. There was also earlier disquiet about training with TNI
\nspecial forces (Kopassus) and the internally repressive use to
\nwhich much of that training was put. And there continues to be
\nproblems with TNI activity in West Papua, Aceh and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Hence, ahead of Australia's coming elections, neither the
\ngovernment nor the Opposition will want to commit to this
\ncontroversial issue. But, after November, it is almost inevitable
\nthat whoever is in government in Australia will move cautiously
\ntowards re-establishing military links. The question will be,
\nhowever, what form should such links take?<\/p>\n
If support for Indonesia's developing democracy is to be
\nmeaningful, renewed training links with Kopassus will remain off
\nlimits. In simple terms, Kopassus has been far too active in
\ndirty tricks campaigns against Indonesia's own citizens.
\nAustralians would be rightly disturbed if the ADF's Special Air
\nService Regiment was helping them to do that.<\/p>\n
Renewed links initially are likely to take the form of support
\nfor maritime surveillance and, increasing their role in civil
\naffairs, for the national police. Beyond that, officer training
\nmight be useful, especially if the training was not with the ADF
\nbut through the universities that provide post-graduate education
\nto the ADF. TNI officers, it seems, need to learn less about
\ntactics and strategies than they do about management, control and
\npolitical principle. In this they would benefit from undertaking
\npost-graduate work in an areas that focus on how to best assist
\nlocal communities through development programs.<\/p>\n
Even with such "soft options", no matter what form renewed
\nmilitary links take, they will remain politically unacceptable to
\nmost in Australia while the Indonesian government seeks military
\nas opposed to political solutions to its regional problems. But
\nperhaps carefully targeted education, as opposed to "training",
\nmight assist in helping the TNI fulfill its reformist "New
\nParadigm".<\/p>\n
Dr Damien Kingsbury is senior lecturer in international
\ndevelopment at Deakin University, Geelong. He recently co-edited,
\nwith professor Arief Budiman, 'Indonesia: The Uncertain
\nTransition (Crawford House, 2001).<\/p>",
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