Curbing Indonesia's army

Curbing Indonesia's army

The scale of the tsunami disaster and continuing health risks in Indonesia's Aceh Province are almost beyond comprehension.

Unfortunately, Indonesia's politically powerful army is not used to putting humanitarianism first. Imbued with a reflexively nationalist ideology and obsessed with a counterinsurgency campaign against armed Aceh separatist groups, army leaders persuaded government officials to restrict foreign aid workers to the province's two main cities.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a former general himself, needs to make sure his generals understand that they are accountable to him as the democratically elected leader and that the human needs of Aceh's people must be Indonesia's most compelling concern. Until that change is internalized, there can be no dropping of America's limits on military ties with Indonesia. Those limits were imposed because of past human rights violations by the Indonesian armed forces.

In September, Yudhoyono became the first Indonesian leader to be democratically elected by a direct popular vote, an event that many hailed as the start of a new era of more responsive government.

Those hopes now face a critical test. This is the moment for Yudhoyono to take full charge and insist that the needs of Aceh's people come first. -- The New York Times