Australia's defense ties with Indonesia solid: Moore

Australia's defense ties with Indonesia solid: Moore

CANBERRA (AP): Planned military exercises involving elite
units of the Indonesian and Australian defense forces have been
deferred, not abandoned, Australian Minister of Defense John
Moore said on Thursday.

He said Indonesian budget cuts were behind a decision to delay
two planned joint military exercises, not the bad human rights
record of the Indonesian Army's Special Force (Kopassus) as
reported in some Australian media.

Moore, who took over the defense post earlier this month after
a national election, said Australia's defense relationship with
Indonesia was unchanged.

The Australian newspaper reported on Thursday the exercises
had been abandoned after a ministerial level decision in
Australia.

The newspaper linked the decision to what it claimed were
months of bad publicity over the poor human rights record of the
elite Kopassus unit of Indonesia's Armed Forces (ABRI).

Moore said the decision was made by Australia's armed forces.

Adm. Chris Barrie, the chief of Australia's defense forces,
had advised the government that planned exercises had been
deferred by mutual agreement with the Indonesian government,
Moore said.

Exercise Night Falcon, an Australian Special Air Services
exercise, was scheduled to be held in Indonesia last May.
Moore said the exercise was deferred due to the deteriorating
political and economic situation in Indonesia at the time.

Exercise Kookaburra and Exercise Komodo, scheduled for
November, have also been postponed to a date yet to be decided.

"I am advised that the exercises have been deferred in the
light of the budget cuts imposed by the Indonesian government on
ABRI training and by ABRI's priority requirement for the
restructuring of Kopassus," Moore said.

"These are internal matters for the Indonesian government and
its defense force."

He said the Indonesian government was also concerned about
improving the "professional standards and accountability" of its
Special Force.

Moore said it was expected training exercises involving
Australian defense forces and Kopassus would resume once
Indonesia's internal reform processes were completed.

Two former Kopassus commanders, including former president
Soeharto's son-in-law Prabowo Subianto, have been discharged from
ABRI over their role in the kidnapping and torturing of political
activists.