U.S. backs TNI's accountability attempts

U.S. backs TNI's accountability attempts

Admiral Dennis C. Blair, Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific
Command, Jakarta

Indonesia today faces many challenges. The United States
shares Indonesia's aspirations for security, peaceful
development, and prosperity. We want to help.

In past years, the Pacific Command had close relations with
the armed forces of Indonesia. We conducted exercises together,
and provided training on common equipment. However in response to
the actions of the Indonesian Military (TNI) following the
referendum in East Timor, the U.S. reduced its military
cooperation with Indonesia.

Developments in Indonesia, the continuing reform of the TNI,
and our common campaign against international terrorism offer the
possibility of renewed cooperation. A higher level of cooperation
would be in the interests of both our countries.

Let me review the areas where our two armed forces now work
together. The United States Pacific Command sponsors many
conferences to improve the capability of the armed force of the
region to conduct common missions. Among them: Senior officers
from Indonesia also recently attended the Pacific Area Senior
Officer Logistics Seminar, the Pacific Armies Chiefs Conference,
the Pacific Armies Management Seminar, where military leaders
from different countries broaden their perspectives.

Indonesian officers and officials also attend the Asia-Pacific
Center for Security Studies in Hawaii, to share views with their
counterparts from the region, and improve their understanding of
regional security concerns and opportunities for cooperation.

Together with the armed forces of the Asia-Pacific region and
those that have interests in the region, we have established an
Asia-Pacific Area Network (APAN). APAN (www.apan-info.net)
provides Internet-based communications for military officers,
defense officials and non-governmental organizations to share
sensitive, but unclassified, information. Though APAN is just
over a year old, we now have over 3,600 users from 63 countries,
including six from right here in Indonesia.

This will improve the ability of regional armed forces to
conduct humanitarian and peacekeeping operations, and to work
together in other operations. Indonesian officers are among those
from 28 nations who have participated in these great workshops.

In addition to agreed procedures, a means to communicate, and
staff planning skills, we need good old-fashioned practice here
in the Asia-Pacific region. In May this year we had the first
Team Challenge exercise.

Team Challenge linked the bilateral exercises Cobra Gold in
Thailand, Balikatan in the Philippines, and Tandem Thrust in
Australia.

It involved both command post exercises and field exercises,
and focused on the multilateral operations across a spectrum of
missions -- from humanitarian assistance to UN peace enforcement.
Singapore forces participated in the Cobra Cold phase in
Thailand, and several other nations -- including Indonesia,
Japan, and Malaysia -- sent teams of observers.

I would hope that Indonesia, with its strong tradition of UN
peacekeeping participation, would be able to participate in Cobra
Gold and Team Challenge in May next year.

The attacks on the World Trade Center and the loss of innocent
civilians from many countries and faiths, including a large
number from this region, have provided a new focus for regional
security cooperation. In some countries such as Afghanistan,
terrorist groups were in league with national governments. In
others such as the southern Philippines, terrorist groups had
become as powerful as local governments.

Learning from the Sept. 11 tragedy, we must continue to
enhance regional security cooperation to deal with 21st century
threats. Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups operate in large,
multiethnic, and open societies.

One only has to observe Afghan people celebrating their
liberation from Taliban rule in city after city, to know that the
Taliban do not -- nor have they ever -- represented the Afghan
people. American efforts to defeat al-Qaeda and the Taliban are
directed at a ruthless band of murderers.

The U.S. has been the largest donor of aid to the Afghan
people, and we will stand by them through this winter and help
them to rebuild their country.

On Sept. 11, however, we realized how inadequate our response
had been. Now is the time to organize for the future. Many of our
respected international organizations have pointed the way. The
United Nations issued Security Council Resolutions 1,368 and
1,373, condemning the attacks of Sept. 11, and reaffirming the
international community's commitment to work together to
eliminate the threat of terrorism.

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,
gathered for the Seventh ASEAN Summit in Brunei, and released a
statement on Nov. 5 also condemning terrorism, and pledging
international cooperation to eliminate it.

Individual nations have contributed in many ways to the
campaign against terrorism in Afghanistan and around the world.
With the wide range of participation by many nations, some with
significant Muslim populations, this is clearly not a war against
Islam, but rather, a war against enemies of civil society and
human progress.

I believe there's an old Indonesian proverb that goes
something like, "Devoting oneself to the nation protects the
nation, devoting oneself to the community protects the
community." By devoting ourselves -- to our nations, and to our
region -- against the threat of international terrorism, we will
clearly be protecting our people against a threat that knows no
border.

Today, al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Abu Sayyaf in the
Philippines are on the defensive and on the run. Our security
forces need to keep up the pressure to ensure that they can never
reach a sanctuary to rebuild their networks and plan future
attacks. Even so, defeating these organizations will not end
terrorism.

We also need to promote just and accountable societies, which
provide prosperity and security to our citizens, to prevent
terrorism from developing and flourishing.

The efforts to enhance regional security cooperation among
regional armed forces have laid the foundation for effective
operations in coalitions. We now need to apply these to combating
terrorism.

The campaign will involve several efforts:

Many nations have offered to participate in a Malacca Strait
patrol to ensure that terrorists cannot attack shipping there.
This patrol in international waters should be coordinated with
the safety patrols of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

The U.S. is increasing efforts to help the Philippines defeat
the Abu Sayyaf group.And I have met with many Asia-Pacific
leaders to discuss measures that will increase the capabilities
of each of our armed forces and security services to deal with
terrorists.

The principal missions of military and police forces are to
defend their territory and maintain national sovereignty and
internal security. Military forces capable of defending their
territory's limit the temptations of others to resolve disputes
by forces and provide incentives for diplomatic solutions.

In your country, I see a growing awareness that force alone is
insufficient to quell insurgency without political accommodation,
respect for human rights, and local economic development.

Heavy-handed military tactics against insurgencies not only
create international censure, but also are counterproductive --
they build local domestic resentment against soldiers, increase
support for insurgency and terrorism, and undermine public trust
in the efficiency and skill of the nation's armed forces.

Over recent decades, the role of coercion in governance has
become outmoded. Power has shifted rightly from military to
political authorities. When I think back 20 years to the roles of
generals in the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and other
nations, including Indonesia, the trend is striking.

Military forces today play a smaller role in politics, but are
no less important to the welfare and security of their nations.

The regional and global trend is toward smaller armed forces
that are better paid, better equipped, and better led by
professional non-commissioned officers. Armed forces throughout
the region are giving up commercial activities that make them
more susceptible to corruption in the ranks and less responsive
to government authority.

I strongly support efforts to increase transparency and public
accountability of military spending towards the long-term goal of
funding the military through the national budget. Properly funded
and well-trained armed forces will enhance both regional security
and national prosperity.

The U.S. is ready to work with our Indonesian friends and with
all our friends in the region to achieve this common goal. The
Pacific Command is ready to work with the TNI now in multilateral
missions -- such as the campaign against terrorism, peacekeeping
exercises, and mutual support. We are ready to resume the full
range of bilateral cooperation, when the military reforms which
the TNI is undertaking reach maturity.

The above is an abridged version of the writer's address at
the National Resiliency Institute in Jakarta on Nov. 27.