U.S. govt aims to revive military ties with RI: Envoy

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The U.S. government is trying to persuade Congress to fully lift the military embargo imposed on Indonesia as cooperation between the armed forces of the two countries in the wake of last year's tsunami provides yet further proof of stronger military ties.

"You can be sure that the executive branch is working to open the way for the normalization of military to military relationships," U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia B. Lynn Pascoe said on Tuesday in a speech at the start of a two-day security dialog between senior U.S. and Indonesian defense officials here.

Pascoe said the U.S. administration had learned that military forces from both countries worked side by side to distribute emergency relief and rescue survivors in Aceh, the hardest hit by the Dec. 26 tsunami.

"This experience helped us set the stage to move to a higher level of military to military cooperation," he said.

The U.S. Congress suspended military cooperation with Indonesia in 1999, after accusations that soldiers deployed in the country's former province of East Timor committed rights abuses before, during and after the 1999 vote of independence.

The current administration wants the ban lifted, arguing Washington should support Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation and a key battleground in the war on terror.

The 2002 shooting of two American teachers in Papua province has also complicated ties between the two countries, with rights groups alleging rouge Indonesian soldiers were behind the shootings.

Indonesia has pursued efforts to resume full military ties, but the U.S. Congress and human rights groups have said that full normalization should not be allowed due to Indonesia's failure to punish anyone in connection with the killings in East Timor and rising concerns about human rights abuses across the country.

The U.S. government has revived several joint military training exercises, and endorsed limited sales of military equipment to Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono expressed confidence that the embargo would eventually be lifted "because of the post-tsunami cooperation and good reputation of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Washington".

The minister recalled Susilo's recent visit to the U.S., which was aimed at reviving full military ties between the two nations.

"Congress members were impressed with SBY (Susilo) as they learned that he is serious about reforming the military and placing it under civilian control," he said.

The Tuesday forum was the third round of talks between Indonesia and the United States. The first dialog was held in Indonesia in 2002, the second was held in 2004 in Washington.

Brig. Gen. John Allen led the U.S. delegation, while the delegation from Indonesia is led by Maj. Gen. Dadi Susanto, who is also director general on defense strategy at the Ministry of Defense.