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.