Aid workers wade through minefield of nationalism

Aid workers wade through minefield of nationalism

John Mcbeth, The Straits Times/Asia News Network, Singapore

Nationalism, often tinged with conspiracy theories and a
measure of xenophobia, is never far from the surface in
Indonesia. Just witness some of the hostile questions U.S.
Ambassador Lyn Pascoe had to field recently from several
Indonesian journalists apparently convinced that the American
involvement in the international relief operation in tsunami-
ravaged Aceh province was driven more by non-humanitarian motives
than anything else.

That same nationalism -- and the need to demonstrate that
Indonesia is in charge -- also appears to have been the reason
for the government's decision to impose a three-month deadline on
thousands of foreign troops.

On the surface, it gave the impression the authorities were
ungrateful for their assistance, but Defense Minister Juwono
Sudarsono has just "clarified" that "March 26 is not a
deadline...It is a benchmark for the Indonesian government to
improve and accelerate its relief efforts, so that by March 26, a
large part of the burden will be carried by the Indonesian
government".

Aid workers said it may take at least a year to re-open the
once-picturesque 220km road between Banda Aceh, the provincial
capital, and the shattered coastal town of Meulaboh. Until that
happens, heavy-lift helicopters such as Singapore's CH-47
Chinooks -- which Indonesia does not have -- could continue to
play a crucial role in feeding more than 130,000 refugees strung
out along the west coast.

Presidential aides said the relocation of the refugees to
places where they will be accessible by road and by ship will be
important in slowly scaling back the need for foreign military
involvement. But after initially saying he wanted all foreign
forces out by March 26 or "the sooner the better", Vice President
Jusuf Kalla later informed Western diplomats that the deadline
was in fact flexible.

Top United Nations relief official Jan Egeland had expressed
serious concern over the deadline and also possible restrictions
on the movement of relief workers, ostensibly to protect them
against Free Aceh Movement separatists.

But the most interesting reaction came from the Indonesian
Armed Forces, which has often been cast as the institution most
uncomfortable about the presence of foreign military forces. "We
need the foreign troops badly," military commander, Gen.
Endriartono Sutarto, said in an interview in yesterday's edition
of Tempo news weekly. "Australian soldiers, for example, sent a
water purifier, along with plastic containers. We can't even
afford the containers, let alone the purifier, so should we let
our people die because of national pride?"

Gen. Sutarto, nearing the end of four years at the helm,
indicated his main worry will continue to be getting food and
water to the pockets of refugees who survived the tidal waves
that carried away entire towns and left the western coast a
wasteland. He said: 'I'd rather be fired than ban foreign troops
from coming in to do their humanitarian mission. Are we expected
to deliver aid from Banda Aceh to Meulaboh by bicycle?"

Foreign helicopter carriers -- from the U.S., Singapore,
India, Australia and France -- are assisting in relief efforts.

Although the Jakarta government has talked of sending
thousands of troop reinforcements to Aceh to help in the clean up
-- and perhaps give the appearance of reinforcing national
sovereignty -- Gen. Sutarto startled observers on Jan.12 by
saying that he could not deploy even three battalions because of
cost considerations and worries that it would disturb security in
other parts of the country.

His suggestion that the work would best be done by the
Acehnese themselves appears to have been picked up by the UN
Development Program, which days later began paying 3,000 tsunami
survivors US$3 (S$4.90) a day to clear away wreckage.

Singaporean, Australian and American officers all said
cooperation from the Indonesian army has been exceptional. "As an
issue, the deadline has been way overstated," said a senior
Australian officer, who tells of receiving a text message from an
Indonesian general thanking him for his help.

"The work of the military will probably be over in three
months anyway, and it will be up to the United Nations to bring
in what is needed. None of this is confrontational to us. We'll
go when they want us to go."

It was not so long ago, in the wake of the bloody 1999
independence referendum in then East Timor, that Australian and
Indonesian troops came close to open hostilities that would have
set relations back decades. Five years on, much of that has been
forgotten. The Australian officer said the key to the success of
the aid and recovery operation so far was probably getting the
Indonesian military to take control, something that has become
more apparent than ever in recent days.

Still, nationalism remains an issue, particularly with the
Muslim-orientated Justice and Welfare Party -- part of President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's ruling coalition -- and other Islamic
groups critical of the U.S. role in the Middle East.

International and Indonesian officials are reluctant to point
a finger over why ship-borne U.S. marines were forced to scale
back their presence on shore to address Indonesian sensitivities
and security concerns.

The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln that serves as a
key base for relief operations had to leave Indonesian
territorial waters, reportedly because Jakarta objected to
routine training flights by American jet fighters that must go on
as part of keeping the flat-top battle ready.

Indonesian government sources insisted it was an American
decision to conform with maritime law. Whatever the truth, the
repositioning of the carrier added half an hour to helicopter
supply flights.

The writer is the former Jakarta correspondent for the Far
Eastern Economic Review.