Defense issue haunts Gus Dur-Clinton summit

Defense issue haunts Gus Dur-Clinton summit

By Yenni Djahidin

WASHINGTON (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid flies into
Washington on Friday amidst a series of congressional attempts to
cut further U.S. military assistance to Indonesia as punishment
for Jakarta's failures over East Timor.

Observers, however, quickly dismissed on Thursday the
suggestions that these moves would sour the atmosphere of the
summit between Abdurrahman, popularly known as Gus Dur, and
President Bill Clinton at the White House on Friday.

The Senate is currently debating an amendment to the
Bankruptcy Reform Act, proposed by Senator Russell Feingold
(Democrat, Wisconsin), seeking to suspend security assistance and
the sale of military equipment to Indonesia because of the East
Timor issue.

A spokesman for Senator Feingold told The Jakarta Post on
Thursday that the Senate will vote on the amendment on Wednesday.

A similar amendment proposal is currently underway in the
foreign operations appropriations bill.

The Feingold amendment takes note of the recent democratic
presidential election in Indonesia and Jakarta's decision to
accept the result of the East Timor self-determination ballot.

But it calls for continued U.S. pressure to ensure that the
Indonesian government and military take additional steps to
create a peaceful environment for the United Nations to implement
the results of the Aug. 31 referendum.

The proposals would largely be a formality since Washington
has already severed most defense and military links with Jakarta,
including a program to train senior Indonesian military officers
and sales of military equipment.

The bulk of the cuts were made in September and forced the
Indonesian government, then under President B.J. Habibie, to bow
to international pressure to allow the United Nations to send a
peacekeeping force into East Timor.

Former U.S. ambassador to Indonesia Edward Masters told The
Post the Feingold amendment would not affect bilateral relations.

"It's more of a symbolic thing," said Masters, who heads the
United States-Indonesia Society in Washington.

The amendment was proposed because some senators were not
happy with the role of the Indonesian Military in East Timor.

Masters expressed optimism about Indonesia's new president.

"Gus Dur has all the right ideas and understands what needs to
be done," he said, referring to the Bank Bali scandal probe and
the reopening of the Soeharto corruption investigation.

Indonesia-U.S. relations were much more positive now than a
few months ago after the East Timor referendum, Masters said.

"I think it's very much looking up, and much more positive.
People are encouraged by the initial steps made by the
government," he said.

Masters said the meeting between Clinton and Abdurrahman would
be an opportunity for the two leaders to get to know each other.

"It's very important for them to know each other. I don't
think there are any specific problems they are going to discuss,"
he said, adding, however, that the situation in East Timor would
likely be included.

American investors shared this optimism but they were waiting
for specific policies, such as how the government tackles the
banking sector reforms, debt restructuring and judicial reforms,
he said.

Paul Wolfowitz, dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced
International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, said Congress
would be making a mistake if it passed the Feingold amendment.

But a passage would not hurt U.S.-Indonesia ties, said
Wolfowitz, who served as U.S. ambassador to Indonesia in the
1980s.

He said the most important thing was that Clinton had fit the
meeting with Abdurrahman into his agenda at short notice.

Wolfowitz said Indonesia did not need American military
cooperation. "What Indonesia needs is political and economic
support," he said.

Walter Lohman, director of Indonesian affairs at the U.S.-
ASEAN Business Council, deplored the congressional move to
continue the sanctions against Indonesia.

"While the sanctions, which appear poised to pass Congress
have been moderated, they are counterproductive to encouraging
reform in Indonesia, and they do serious damage to our bilateral
ties.

"Indonesia is changing in response to the demands of its own
people and economy, not in response to threats from the outside,"
Lohman said.

The U.S. business community was pleased that President
Abdurrahman was making the trip to the U.S. so early in his
presidency, he said. "It underscores the real interest our two
nations have in maintaining a warm and constructive
relationship," Lohman said.