RI hopes U.S. visit will boost military ties

RI hopes U.S. visit will boost military ties

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono says the U.S. government and
legislators now have a better understanding of the Indonesian
Military (TNI) after his delegation's week-long visit to the
country.

After reporting to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on
Tuesday about last week's visit, Juwono said influential U.S.
figures now better understood the TNI and its role in the
country's democracy.

"They, including Senators Patrick J. Leahy and Russel Feingold
who are the most critical (of the military), now understand the
problems faced by the TNI," he said.

The delegation informed legislators about Indonesia's progress
in establishing democracy, the reform drive within the military
and the role of the military in economic and democratic
development, the minister said.

Juwono also mentioned the problems faced by the TNI, including
its limited state budget allocation, which is deemed sufficient
to cover only half of the military's expenditure.

He compared the country's defense budget of Rp 21 trillion
(US$2.28 billion) a year with that of Singapore, which has a
budget equivalent to Rp 45 trillion a year and Thailand's, of Rp
50 trillion.

"I told them that I led the best underpaid defense force in
Asia. They were very surprised that with such a small defense
budget, Indonesia remained unified despite the large number of
citizens and our large territory," Juwono said.

Juwono's visit to the U.S. was to encourage the government to
fully resume military ties with Indonesia. The U.S. recently
decided to reinstate the International Military Education and
Training (IMET) program with Indonesia.

The Indonesian delegation met with U.S. Minister of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Minister of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, who
has just been promoted to head the World Bank, Deputy State
Secretary Robert B. Zoelllick, Senator Richard Lugar, Senator
Christopher Bond, Senator Russell Feingold, U.N. Secretary Kofi
Annan and former U.S. state secretary Henry Kissinger.

The U.S. has yet to annul its decision banning the sale of
military equipment and spare parts to Indonesia.

Juwono said that the government hoped to be able to buy new
military equipment and spare parts from the U.S. after the
resumption of the IMET program, which is expected to start again
by September at the latest.

"This year is for (the resumption of) the IMET program. Other
programs, such as the Foreign Military Equipment Sale and Foreign
Military Financial Program, depend on the resumption of the
training. If this occurs, and is in line with economic growth,
we could be allowed to buy new defense equipment," he said.

Kissinger had promised to convince the U.S. Senate to speedily
approve the resumption of IMET with Indonesia by September, he
said.

Juwono said he told U.S. legislators that the legal processes
concerning the TNI's involvement in the 1999 human rights
violations in East Timor were still ongoing although most of the
convicts, particularly TNI personnel, had been acquitted by lower
courts.

The inability of the courts to convict Indonesian Military
officers for war crimes is one reason why the U.S Congress has
voted to continue the arms embargo.