U.S. Senate's move on arms ban to RI deplored
U.S. Senate's move on arms ban to RI deplored
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia said yesterday it was unhappy with the
U.S Senate's plan to tie the sales of light weapons to Indonesia
with conditions in East Timor.
"We're unhappy that foreign aid should be linked to unrelated
matters like human rights," Irawan Abidin, director of
information at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told The Jakarta
Post yesterday.
The Senate voted on Tuesday to ban the sale of light arms to
Indonesia until it sees "significant progress" in East Timor,
according to an AFP dispatch from Washington.
The bill will now go to a House-Senate conference committee to
resolve differences with a similar version of the bill already
passed by the House of Representatives in May.
Included as a provision in the Foreign Assistance
Appropriations Bill, the Senate's new measure recommended that
the U.S. government "refrain from selling light arms and crowd
control items until the Secretary of State reports that there has
been significant progress made on human rights in East Timor and
elsewhere in Indonesia".
The recommendations also called on Jakarta to participate
"constructively" with United Nations Secretary General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali on resolving the status of East Timor, which
includes the issue of self-determination.
Irawan said, however, that the bill has some way to go before
it is fully approved by the congress and that things could still
change between now and then.
Even if it is approved, there is still the possibility that
the bill might be vetoed by the U.S. president.
Indonesia has repeatedly rejected U.S. attempts in the past to
link foreign aid with political conditions -- such as the East
Timor situation, human rights and labor rights -- calling the
move an attempt to interfere in its domestic affairs.
Military officials have responded to the threat of a U.S. arms
sales ban by saying that Indonesia was prepared to switch to
other arms suppliers.
The U.S. congress succeeded in scrapping further military
training facilities for Indonesian officers in 1992. Indonesia
responded by sending its officers to Australian military
colleges.
Washington last year succeeded in blocking Jordan's plan to
sell U.S. built F-5 jetfighters to Indonesia on human rights
grounds. (pwn)