U.S. lawmakers ask for names of army suspects

By Yenni Djahidin

WASHINGTON (JP): A panel from the U.S. House of Representatives has asked to be given the names of members of the Indonesian armed forces involved in the kidnapping and torture of political activists.

"It is very important to know whether or not they have received U.S. military training," said Rep. Christopher Smith, chairman of the House International Relations Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights.

Smith is among lawmakers who object to joint U.S. military training with foreign forces. U.S.-trained units, particularly in Colombia, have been accused of human rights abuses.

"Our joint exercises and training of military units that have been charged over and over again with the gravest kinds of crimes against humanity, including torture and murder, cry out for an explanation," Smith said, adding: "How could we not have known who these people were?"

The U.S. military has been training the Indonesian military, including the Army's special force (Kopassus), which was allegedly behind the recent kidnapping and torture of a number of activists and students.

Eleven members of Kopassus have been arrested and will face court martial in Jakarta.

The assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, Franklin Kramer, said in his testimony that his office did not have a list of Indonesian soldiers involved in a special training program known as JCET (Joint Combined Exchange Training).

Kramer said that as a matter of policy, the United States refused to train with any Indonesian military unit involved in human rights violations.

"We will not train with any unit until we are satisfied that all necessary corrective steps have been taken," he said.

Asked whether top Indonesian military officials might have been involved in the kidnapping and torture of activists, Kramer said it was possible.

"So far as I'm aware we're not certain who they are nor how high up it goes," Kramer told lawmakers. "I have some indications that it may go up high, but I don't know."

He said the indications were based on U.S. intelligence information.

The assistant secretary of state for human rights, John Shattuck, said in his testimony that the U.S. administration hoped to see an end to human rights abuses perpetrated by the security forces in Indonesia.

To achieve this goal, he said, it was very important for the Indonesian government to continue to investigate the kidnapping and disappearance of activists, "and to bring to justice any officials, at any level, who were involved in these crimes."

He said the U.S. is watching very closely to see who is arrested or formally charged.

Shattuck said Washington supported the current political and economic reforms in Indonesia. "The political reforms are continuing on track. We will follow them very closely, and we will assist the Indonesian government financially with that process."

Shattuck said he believed it was critical for the United States to continue its engagement with the Indonesian military at the present time, "to make sure that we know who the bad actor is. That is why this justice process is so important," he said.

Shattuck said that although there were signs of progress, including the release of some political prisoners and preparations for early elections, it was still too early to say whether the process of reform would continue over the long run and lead to a genuine democratic transition.

Eni Faleomavaega, a member of the subcommittee from American Samoa, an island in the South Pacific, said the Soeharto government was guilty of one of the greatest mass violations of human rights in recent history.

Faleomavaega said the Indonesian government was responsible for the wholesale murder and "disappearance" of as many as 300,000 indigenous Melanesians in West Papua New Guinea, also known as Irian Jaya.

"The Indonesian people, I love. I have some very close friends (in the country), but the policy of the government stinks," he said.