Indonesia looks forward to reinstatement of IMET program
Indonesia looks forward to reinstatement of IMET program
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia has expressed optimism over the possibility of the
United States Congress allowing Indonesian Military (TNI)
officers to rejoin the U.S. International Military Education and
Training (IMET) program.
Congress is expected to make a decision sometime next month.
If the program is reinstated, this could be considered as one
step closer to the restoration of full military ties between the
two countries.
Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said on
Friday that significant political changes in favor of Indonesia
had taken place ahead of next month's congressional session.
"The U.S. Congress is dominated by Republicans, who look more
favorably on Indonesia. Due to the political changes that have
taken place, the coming joint session might turn out to be
beneficial for us," Hassan said.
"From the latest reports I have received, most of them
(congressmen) agree on the need to improve military ties with
Indonesia, and we just have to wait for the plenary session's
decision," he claimed.
The foreign ministry's director for North and Central America,
Dino Patti Djalal, also expressed optimism that the U.S. Congress
would approve the restoration of the IMET program for Indonesia.
"It is a step up from only allowing sales of non-lethal
equipment. Now they might be prepared to permit training for
Indonesian soldiers," Dino said.
The U.S. government has been excluding TNI officers from the
IMET program since the early 1990s following the TNI's massacre
of East Timorese protesters in Santa Cruz in Dili.
The U.S. also halted arms sales to Indonesia following the
mayhem in East Timor in 1999, when the territory voted to secede
from Indonesia.
The European Union also imposed a military embargo on
Indonesia following the East Timor violence of 1999. A year
later, however, the EU lift its embargo
The U.S., however, has chosen to only partially lift its
embargo pending the outcome of the ongoing trials in Indonesia of
those responsible for human rights crimes in East Timor.
Given the U.S. non-lethal-equipment policy, President Megawati
Soekarnoputri has been forced to look for other sources of
weaponry in Eastern Europe.
Restoration of full military ties with the U.S. is still a
remote possibility considering the verdicts brought in so far in
the human rights trails.
All military and police defendants in the trails have been
acquitted, and only civilian defendants, who also happen to be
East Timorese in origin, have been convicted and sentenced by the
ad hoc court.
Congress has repeatedly said that the calling to account of
those responsible for violating human rights in East Timor would
be a key precondition for the restoration of full military ties.