U.S. military ties with Indonesia

U.S. military ties with Indonesia

The U.S. decision to restore military ties with Indonesia does more than draw a line under past human rights abuses in East Timor. It brings Indonesia's armed forces in from the cold after decades of embargoes by Western governments.

For Washington, human rights is no longer the most pressing issue. The United States wants to reward Indonesia's cooperation in the war on terrorism.

But the pragmatic decision to bury the pain of the past was made in Dili, not in Washington. East Timor's president, the former guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao, last year publicly reconciled with the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Indonesia is now a democracy and, it may be argued, should not be isolated because of the sins of its authoritarian past. -- The Sydney Morning Herald