U.S. plans to go ahead with F-16 sale to RI

U.S. plans to go ahead with F-16 sale to RI

WASHINGTON (AFP): The United States plans to go ahead with the
sale of F-16 fighters to Indonesia next year, U.S. officials said
Monday, despite human rights concerns and a flap over Indonesian
campaign contributions.

The sale of the nine F-16s, part of a batch of 28 originally
intended for Pakistan, had been held up by the State Department
following a crackdown on dissent in Indonesia earlier this year.

But officials said the administration of President Bill
Clinton intended to proceed with the sale of the advanced
fighters, estimated to be worth some US$200 million.

"We expect to notify Congress in January," a White House
spokesman said. "Indonesia is a good ally of the United States
and its an important region of world, the stability of which is a
vital interest of United States."

"Our intention is to go ahead with the sale," the official
said.

Meanwhile, a State Department official said the sale was still
"under review."

"It has to do with a number of issues, human rights concerns
are among those," the official said.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich last week said the F-16 sale
should be suspended until Congress holds hearings into campaign
contributions to Clinton and the Democrats by a rich Indonesian
banking family.

Disclosures of the campaign contributions by the Riady family
have prompted Republican charges of undue Indonesian influence
over U.S. policy.

Human rights activists have urged the suspension of the sale
because of Indonesia's takeover of East Timor, a former
Portuguese colony invaded in the 1970s.

The sale, which originally was supposed to have been concluded
in July, was held up by the State Department because of concerns
over human rights following an Indonesian crackdown on
dissidents.

The F-16s originally were part of a billion dollar arms sale
to Pakistan, including 28 F-16s, that was terminated in 1990
because the administration was unable to certify that Pakistan
did not possess nuclear weapons.

In April, the administration decided to deliver some of the
equipment and repay part of the money that Pakistan had paid for
arms. It also promised to seek other buyers for the aircraft and
turn over the proceeds to the Pakistanis.