Attacks may prompt resumption of U.S.-TNI ties
Attacks may prompt resumption of U.S.-TNI ties
Matt Kelley, Associated Press, Washington
The United States is increasing its pressure on Indonesia's government to crack down on Islamic militants in the wake of the weekend bombing on Bali that killed nearly 200 people, mostly foreigners.
The bombing also may boost the arguments of top Pentagon officials who want to resume ties with Indonesia's military that Congress severed because of the army's systematic atrocities against civilians.
"This is the first and most powerful recognition that the battle against terrorism is not strictly limited to the Middle East or south Asia," said Kurt Campbell, a former Defense Department adviser now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Human rights worries in the short term will be overridden by national security concerns."
The car bomb that exploded on the resort island of Bali on Saturday killed more than 180 people and forced Indonesia's government to acknowledge for the first time on Monday that al- Qaeda is active in the southeast Asian archipelago. Some of Indonesia's neighbors, particularly Singapore, have complained that Indonesia has been reluctant to crack down on Islamic militants.
President George W. Bush turned up the pressure on Monday on Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Bush said he planned to speak to Megawati about the attack, which killed at least two Americans.
"I want to make it clear to her that we need to work together to find those who murdered all those innocent people and bring them to justice," Bush said. "And I hope I hear the resolve of a leader that recognizes that any time terrorists take hold in a country it is going to weaken the country itself. There has to be a firm and deliberate desire to find the killers before they kill somebody else."
The comments suggest Bush is looking for results from the assistance the United States has pledged for Indonesia's anti- terrorism fight. Congress passed legislation this summer giving Indonesia's police force $16 million, including $12 million to set up a special anti-terrorism unit.
When Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Indonesia in August, he announced a $50 million, three-year anti-terrorism assistance package for the Jakarta government, including $400,000 to restart an exchange program for high-level military officers.
Congress would have to approve the exchange program, which was among the contacts forbidden after the Indonesian military's bloody suppression of dissent in now-independent East Timor.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, a former U.S. ambassador to Jakarta, has been pushing for expanded ties to Indonesia's military. The only way to persuade Indonesia's military to support democracy and human rights and effectively fight terrorism is to work with it, Wolfowitz has argued.
U.S. officials say they fear Indonesia, the world's largest predominantly Muslim country with 210 million people, could become a breeding ground for Islamic radicalism. With more than 13,000 islands spread across 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers), there are plenty of places to hide.