TNI accountability key to restoring ties with U.S. military

TNI accountability key to restoring ties with U.S. military

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With its long record of human rights abuses, the Indonesian
Military (TNI) must be made accountable for its past before the
United States restores military ties with Indonesia, U.S.
Ambassador Ralph L. Boyce said on Wednesday.

"This accountability remains a condition that will no doubt be
related to possible further normalization of our military ties,"
Ambassador Boyce said in a press briefing on last week's one-day
visit by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

In the pipeline of the U.S. bureaucracy is the approval to
revive the International Military Education and Training (IMET)
program for Indonesian military officers, which was suspended in
1992 following the famous Santa Cruz shooting incident, in which
dozens of East Timor independence supporters were killed.

In 1999, the U.S. imposed a military embargo against Indonesia
following charges that TNI hardliners were involved in the East
Timor violence, which erupted when locals overwhelmingly voted
for independence in a 1999 United Nations-organized referendum.

Pressured by the international community, the government set
up a human rights ad hoc court earlier this year to hear cases
related to the East Timor violence.

Middle-to-high-ranking officers, senior government officials
and prointegration militias have been called to the bench in a
move foreign observers have called "encouraging".

But Boyce said the East Timor tribunal was not the only litmus
test determining the resumption of military ties. He said he was
looking forward to seeing "immediate results".

Reviving the training program is seen as a first step toward
normalizing military ties, yet Powell in his visit indicated that
the possibility was still a long way off.

"The possibility of professional military training, which is
called IMET, may be restored at some point in the coming months,"
Boyce said.

He said the TNI must demonstrate accountability and that
included taking a series of reform-oriented moves.

The military has been criticized for its apparent reluctance
to retreat from politics, a notion that has grown with President
Megawati Soekarnoputri making overtures to the military in what
analysts say is an attempt to secure its political support.

"My point is simply that should the professional military
training be restored, we still have a long way to go," Boyce
said.

Full military ties will allow TNI to purchase spare parts
directly from the U.S. instead of through third parties, which is
more expensive. According to the TNI, its funding from the state
budget accounts for only 30 percent of its expenses.