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.