IMET resumption seen as recognition of TNI reform

IMET resumption seen as recognition of TNI reform

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The United States' decision to resume training members of the
Indonesian Military (TNI) after a 14-year suspension of
cooperation shows Washington's recognition of the government's
efforts to reform the TNI, officials said on Monday.

"The United States believes that President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono will be able to carry out reforms within the TNI within
the framework of democracy," Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono
said when asked why the U.S. had decided to resume the program.

Separately, foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said
the resumption of the full International Military Education and
Training (IMET) program was a recognition of the progress
Indonesia had made in democracy.

"This is a development that deserves to be welcomed. The
resumption of the program represents an acknowledgment of the
far-reaching democratic changes that have taken place in
Indonesia in recent years," Marty told AFP.

Indonesia last year went through a series of peaceful
democratic elections, including its first direct presidential
polls that made Susilo its sixth head of state.

Juwono said the TNI's professionalism would be enhanced
through the program. "It will give young high-ranking military
officers the opportunity to absorb experiences from another
country."

The TNI particularly hopes to benefit from training on the
"transparent and efficient" use of funds for defense affairs, he
said.

"We hope that after undergoing training our military officers
will be able to implement a clean managerial system and create a
defense system that is specific to Indonesia," Juwono said,
without elaboration.

TNI deputy spokesman Col. Ahmad Yani Basuki welcomed on Sunday
the resumption of the cooperation as a positive move.

Likewise, Andi Widjajanto, a military analyst from the
University of Indonesia (UI), was supportive of Indonesia's
renewed participation in the program.

"It's good that the U.S. will restart the program for the TNI.
I believe that this program will lead to a new atmosphere of
democracy. I hope the U.S. will also provide further assistance
that can help our country define its defense concept in line with
the spirit of reform," Andi told The Jakarta Post.

Lt. Gen. (ret) Agus Widjojo and Lt. Gen. (ret) Luhut
Pandjaitan were among several TNI generals who underwent the
IMET program.

However, human rights groups have condemned the resumption of
the IMET program for the TNI, which has been accused of
widespread rights abuses in the country and its former province,
East Timor.

"The (move) is a setback for justice, human rights and
democratic reform," John Miller, spokesman for the New York-based
East Timor Action Network, was quoted by AP as saying.

"The Indonesian Military's many victims throughout the country
and East Timor will recognize this policy shift as a betrayal of
their quests for justice and accountability," Miller said.

On Saturday, the U.S. State Department announced that
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice determined that Jakarta had
cooperated with the FBI's investigation into the murders of two
American schoolteachers during an ambush in Papua.

Congress had set this as a condition for Indonesia's
participation in a U.S. military training program, which is
generally viewed as a first step in lifting a ban on military-to-
military ties between the two countries.

Indonesia's participation in the program has been essentially
on hold since 1992, when its military launched a bloody crackdown
against pro-independence protesters in East Timor.

The sanctions were further tightened in 1999, after the TNI
was accused of being behind the deaths of about 1,500 people in
East Timor in an unsuccessful bid to prevent the territory from
gaining independence.