U.S. Senate's move on arms ban to RI deplored<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia said yesterday it was unhappy with the
\nU.S Senate's plan to tie the sales of light weapons to Indonesia
\nwith conditions in East Timor.<\/p>\n
\"We're unhappy that foreign aid should be linked to unrelated
\nmatters like human rights,\" Irawan Abidin, director of
\ninformation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told The Jakarta
\nPost yesterday.<\/p>\n
The Senate voted on Tuesday to ban the sale of light arms to
\nIndonesia until it sees \"significant progress\" in East Timor,
\naccording to an AFP dispatch from Washington.<\/p>\n
The bill will now go to a House-Senate conference committee to
\nresolve differences with a similar version of the bill already
\npassed by the House of Representatives in May.<\/p>\n
Included as a provision in the Foreign Assistance
\nAppropriations Bill, the Senate's new measure recommended that
\nthe U.S. government \"refrain from selling light arms and crowd
\ncontrol items until the Secretary of State reports that there has
\nbeen significant progress made on human rights in East Timor and
\nelsewhere in Indonesia\".<\/p>\n
The recommendations also called on Jakarta to participate
\n\"constructively\" with United Nations Secretary General Boutros
\nBoutros-Ghali on resolving the status of East Timor, which
\nincludes the issue of self-determination.<\/p>\n
Irawan said, however, that the bill has some way to go before
\nit is fully approved by the congress and that things could still
\nchange between now and then.<\/p>\n
Even if it is approved, there is still the possibility that
\nthe bill might be vetoed by the U.S. president.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has repeatedly rejected U.S. attempts in the past to
\nlink foreign aid with political conditions -- such as the East
\nTimor situation, human rights and labor rights -- calling the
\nmove an attempt to interfere in its domestic affairs.<\/p>\n
Military officials have responded to the threat of a U.S. arms
\nsales ban by saying that Indonesia was prepared to switch to
\nother arms suppliers.<\/p>\n
The U.S. congress succeeded in scrapping further military
\ntraining facilities for Indonesian officers in 1992. Indonesia
\nresponded by sending its officers to Australian military
\ncolleges.<\/p>\n
Washington last year succeeded in blocking Jordan's plan to
\nsell U.S. built F-5 jetfighters to Indonesia on human rights
\ngrounds. (pwn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/us-senates-move-on-arms-ban-to-ri-deplored-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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