Indonesia blast U.S. over military relations

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The Indonesian government has criticized United States lawmakers for stalling efforts to restore full military ties between the two countries, calling the move a groundless ploy.

"I see there is no legal basis to accuse Indonesia of not doing anything to meet all requirements for the restoration of military cooperation," Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono said on Sunday.

He was commenting on restrictions maintained by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on foreign military finance, and on exports of lethal military equipment to Indonesia. The move comes as U.S. President George W. Bush seeks approval from the U.S. Congress for US$20.9 billion in foreign aid that includes military funding for several countries in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, including Indonesia.

The U.S. lawmakers said Indonesia had not done enough to bring to justice perpetrators of an ambush in Timika, Papua, in 2002, which killed two American teachers and an Indonesian citizen working for U.S.-owned mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia.

"At the initiative of TNI chief (Gen. Endriartono Sutarto), we provided FBI access to the investigation and they concluded later that the TNI was clean," Juwono said.

The U.S. implicated a rebel leader Antonius Wamang in the attack.

Free Papuan Movement (OPM) has waged a low-level armed struggle for independence against the central government.

"As of today, the police, with the assistance of the military, continue to hunt down the suspect, who can easily traverse the border between Papua province and neighboring Papua New Guinea," Juwono said.

Indonesia has been desperately seeking alternative arms suppliers after Washington imposed a military embargo on Jakarta in 1999, due to atrocities in East Timor that were linked to the TNI.

The TNI, however, has been the world's largest beneficiary of millions of dollars' worth of unrestricted counter-terrorism training under the Pentagon's Regional Defense Counterterrorism Fellowship Program. In 2004, Indonesia participated in Extended IMET programs worth $599,000. In 2005 alone, Indonesia was expected to participate in more than 132 events under the U.S. Pacific Command Theater Security Cooperation Program.

The U.S. lawmakers are also requiring that the U.S. State Department certify that Indonesia is cooperating in the war on terror in order to receive the aid disbursement.

Juwono assured that Indonesia was committed to the crackdown on terrorist networks and had never taken advantage of the issue for political, religious or ideological interests.

"We have always supported the fight against terrorism by our own initiative. Of course, any arrest of terrorist suspects should be made based on our legal system," Juwono told The Jakarta Post.

He said Indonesia had received assistance from foreign countries to fight terrorism, including electronic interception and financial detection devices for Bank Indonesia, the Ministry of Finance and the Customs and Excise office.

Rights activist Ifdhal Kasim from the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam) said the problems with the Papua incident did not lie in the incapability of the country's law enforcers, but "political interests that require the case to remain undisclosed."

"If a certain institution is believed to have been involved in the incident, then we must admit it and bring the perpetrators to justice. The government must realize that upholding the law is a key instrument to start military reform," Ifdhal told the Post.

He said that Juwono had to speed up military reform because "the problems of reviving military ties with the U.S. will stand still unless we can show some real progress."

The ups-and-downs of military ties between Indonesia and the U.S.

--------------------------------------------------------------------- 1993 Washington imposes partial military embargo against

Indonesia, following the St. Cruz massacre in East Timor.

1999 The U.S. imposes a full embargo against Indonesia,

banning the export of military equipment to Jakarta and

training of its military

2003 In the wake of the global war on terror, the U.S. revives

in stages military ties with Indonesia by reopening

training and courses for Indonesian officers.

2004 Washington eases the embargo after the Dec. 26 tsunami. The

Policy allows Indonesia to purchase non-lethal military

equipment -----------------------------------------------------------------------