'Australia needs to resume working tie with Kopassus'

'Australia needs to resume working tie with Kopassus'

Reuters, Sydney, Australia

Australia should lift a ban on its military working with Indonesia's Kopassus special forces to fight terrorism in the region, despite the unit's questionable human rights record, Defense Minister Robert Hill said on Sunday.

Hill said Australia needed to work with Kopassus, Indonesia's counter-terrorism unit, following the Oct. 12 Bali bombings that killed more than 180 people, about 90 of them Australian.

"We haven't been (working with Kopassus) in recent years because of their human rights record. We now have to in the light of the Bali bombing and the light of terrorist threats," Hill told Australian television.

"Kopassus is the counter-terrorism capability in Indonesia, and to defeat terrorists requires cooperation and mutual support. Therefore that issue of dealing with Kopassus on that specific subject is one that is before the government," Hill said.

Kopassus earned a notorious reputation for its alleged role in the torture and abduction of dissidents during former autocrat Soeharto's 32-year rule of Indonesia that ended in chaos in 1998.

Indonesian military prosecutors have received dossiers on seven members of the unit as they try to solve the murder of top Papua separatist leader Theys Eluay, whose body was found in his overturned car in the far eastern province last November.

Police say two Kopassus officers are the main suspects.

Kopassus has repeatedly said it did not order the killing although in April the military said troops were involved.

Hill said cooperating with Kopassus would not gain universal support in Australia. Australia's opposition Labor party opposes the move.

"You could argue that sends the wrong message in terms of the sort of values that we think underpin a civilized society," Hill said.

"On the other hand, let's say there's an aircraft hijacking or something like that in Indonesia, it would be Kopassus that would be called in to address it. I think there are a lot of Australians who would say that we should be able to deal with Kopassus in those circumstances."

Hill said co-operation with Kopassus could entail exchanging counter-terrorism strategies developed from holding the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000. Hill did not mention joint operations.

"Basically, it could be opening up our processes to them so they see how we address a crisis like that," he said.

"I think that there's a lot that they could learn from us in terms of effectively dealing with such a crisis. But we need to be able to talk with them to be able to convey that message."