RI performs rights balancing act to win U.S. help

RI performs rights balancing act to win U.S. help

Victor Tjahjadi, Agence France-Presse, Jakarta

A delicate balancing act of resisting international concern over
past atrocities while appealing for foreign military help has
begun to pay off for Indonesia with Washington on course to
revive ties frozen due to human rights violations.

Last week the U.S. House of Representatives agreed to lift
military aid restrictions to Jakarta that were imposed in 1991 in
response to Indonesian military violence in its 1999 breakaway
province of East Timor.

Although the US$20.3 billion foreign aid bill, under which
Indonesia is eligible for help, has yet to win Senate approval
and be signed by U.S. President George W. Bush, the Congressional
green light removes a major obstacle.

Yet, even as it rubs its hands in anticipation, Jakarta is
facing renewed demands to account for its actions in East Timor,
with UN experts calling for Indonesian alleged rights abusers to
face an international tribunal.

If Indonesia succeeds in winning military aid from the United
States, it will mark a major coup for new President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, who visited Washington in May on a charm
offensive aimed at lifting the restrictions.

It will also help smooth relations between America and the
world's largest Muslim-populated nation, the scene of several
major militant attacks, at a time when support for the U.S.-led
war on terror is floundering.

Susilo's government successfully salved the concerns of
Congress by cooperating with an FBI probe into the killings of
two U.S. citizens in Papua in 2002, after which the concerns over
East Timor have apparently been sidelined.

Indonesia's Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono told AFP last
week that he "positively welcomed" the move by the House of
Representatives, however the move has angered rights campaigners.

"The passing of the bill shows that the U.S. is inconsistent
with the decision-making of their foreign policy," said Hendardi,
chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights
Association.

"They claimed that the embargo was part of their pledge to
uphold human rights, yet, the endorsement of the bill is clear
evidence of their own political and economic interests," he told
AFP.

Key to the concerns of rights campaigners is Jakarta's failure
to jail any senior officials over the violence in which pro-
Indonesian militia gangs -- allegedly directed by Indonesian army
officers -- ran amok in East Timor.

They killed about 1,400 independence supporters in the former
Portuguese colony, laid waste to much of the infrastructure and
forcibly deported 250,000 people after the poll resulted in an
overwhelming vote for separation.

Last week, a UN Commission of Experts panel report said an
Indonesian rights court used to try senior officials was
"manifestly inadequate" and "shows scant respect for -- or
conformity to -- relevant international standards".

Human rights trials held in Indonesia to try those
responsible, and deflect UN calls for a proper tribunal, ended
last year after acquitting all but one of the 18 security
officers and officials who appeared before them.

With both Dili and Jakarta keen to turn a corner on their
troubled past, Indonesia insists it is justified in seeking a
restoration of military help, particularly as it attempts to
rebuild in the wake of last year's tsunami.

"What we need is the full revocation of the embargo for spare
parts for our defense equipment manufactured in or outsourced
from the United States," Defense Minister Juwono told AFP in an
interview.

He criticized rights groups and the UN panel for their
relentless pressure over East Timor, saying that they were
wrongly attributing blame for the violence, after which Indonesia
had done its best to deliver justice.

"They are too fixated on what they deem gross violations of
human rights. We have explained to them that absence of power was
the cause of the mayhem and destruction in East Timor," he said.

Juwono defended the outcome of the trials, blaming Indonesia's
lack of funds to carry out judicial investigations and absence of
a mechanism to bring East Timorese witnesses to Jakarta.

"The logistics of our justice, particularly the (mechanism)
for full-accountable justice, are things that we do not have," he
said.

"We cannot provide that because we don't have the judiciary
logistical basis to undergo such an undertaking of full
accounting. It's not for lack of trying, politically. It's just
the logistics of it," Juwono argued.

He said the creation of a joint panel established by Indonesia
with East Timor -- or the Commission of Truth and Friendship --
was a "better" solution for both countries to reconcile their
past differences.

But, says the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network, a human
rights group, any attempt by Indonesia to deal with its past also
fails to address concerns over current military action,
particularly against separatist rebels in tsunami-hit Aceh.

"Indonesia's armed forces have not met existing congressional
conditions," said Karen Orenstein of the Washington-based group.

"The action, just six months after the tsunami devastated
Aceh, represents a slap in the face for survivors who continue to
be victimized by the Indonesian military."