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.