Wolfowitz urges Indonesian military to reform itself

Wolfowitz urges Indonesian military to reform itself

Agencies, Singapore

The deputy U.S. defense secretary on Friday urged Indonesia's
military to reform itself, but said a strong army there was
needed to fight terrorism and maintain democracy.

Paul Wolfowitz met with Indonesian Defense Minister Matori
Abdul Djalil ahead of an international conference in Singapore
where security experts and defense ministers will discuss the
anti-terrorism fight and arms proliferation in Asia.

Wolfowitz said the Indonesian military must curb human rights
abuses and ensure civilian control. Even so, the U.S. official
supports resuming U.S. aid to the Indonesian army - aid that has
been banned because of human rights violations in East Timor and
other regions.

Wolfowitz has said U.S. support for the Indonesian military
can help teach Indonesian officers more respect for human rights
and democracy.

"If there's going to be effective democratic control of the
military in Indonesia there needs to be reform," said Wolfowitz,
a former U.S. ambassador to Jakarta.

The U.S. Congress is considering an anti-terrorism funding
bill that would send US$8 million to Indonesia to create a police
unit to fight terrorists, but lawmakers so far have not approved
the closer military cooperation.

After meeting Wolfowitz, Matori said Indonesia is committed to
fighting terrorism and welcomed financial help from the United
States. But he said U.S. troops should not enter Indonesia.

"To help Indonesia fight terrorism, it is not necessary to
have American soldiers on our soil," Matori said.

Jakarta has consistently rejected accusations by the
international community that it has failed to arrest Islamic
militants operating on its soil. Neighboring Malaysia, Singapore
and the Philippines have detained dozens of suspected militants,
several of them Indonesians.

Meanwhile, Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew on Friday
urged the United States to support Indonesia's military despite
its history of abuse, saying the army is one of the few
institutions that can keep the country together and rein in
Muslim extremism.

"Despite all its shortcomings, the Indonesian military is
still led by a nationalist, not an Islamic, senior officer
corps," Lee said in a speech opening the regional security
conference in Singapore.

"If the U.S. does not re-engage the (Indonesian military) and
help it reform itself, a young newly elected government will not
have an effective institution to support its policies. The
stability of Indonesia is crucial to the future of the region and
the strategic balance in East Asia," he said, adding that
Indonesian leaders are vying for support of Islamic militants in
2004 presidential elections.

The 78-year-old Lee warned of a major threat by al-Qaeda
linked terrorists in Southeast Asia. His recent comments chiding
neighboring Indonesia - the world's most populous Muslim nation -
for failing to arrest militants have sparked diplomatic rows
between the two countries.

"Over the last three decades, as part of a world-wide trend,
Muslims in the region, including Singapore, are becoming stricter
in their dress, diet, religious observances, and even social
interaction.

"What came as a shock was that this heightened religiosity
facilitated Muslim terror groups linked to al-Qaeda to recruit
Singapore Muslims into their network."

Although Singapore had detained 13 members of the militant
Jemaah Islamiyah another 20 escaped and were "now probably in
Indonesia," Lee said.

The 13 were motivated by a shared ideology of universal jihad
(holy war) and planned to blow up U.S. and other Western targets,
with their leader Ibrahim Maidin "unrepentant and defiant under
detention".

Lee said militant Islam "feeds upon the insecurities and
alienation that globalisation generates among the less
successful."

Wolfowitz warned of a "gathering storm" of terrorism
threatening the world as he arrived in Singapore on Friday for a
regional security conference.

Wolfowitz said he would use the weekend Asia-Pacific security
conference to stress that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks impacted
on the whole world, not just the United States.

Defense ministers or their representatives from about 20
countries are in Singapore for the conference dubbed "the
Shangri-La dialogue" after the name of the hotel where it is
being held.

In addition to the terrorist threat, other issues to be
debated include U.S. strategy in the region, China's military
doctrine, Europe's role in Asian security, and non-proliferation
challenges.

Most of the three-day meeting will be behind closed doors,
with organizers from the London-based International Institute for
Strategic Studies saying this would allow a "frank exchange of
views".

Quoting a line from Winston Churchill, Wolfowitz said his
message to the conference was that "this 'gathering storm' that
is the terrorist threat is something that threatens the whole
world.

"It's true that the attacks on September 11 were on my country
and some people here may think that's thousands of mile away, but
the terrorist threat is here as well."

Fifteen years ago, when Wolfowitz was the U.S. ambassador to
Indonesia, a "Japanese Red Army terrorist" threw a bomb at the
embassy in Jakarta.

"It reminded me that terrorism is not new in this part of the
world. More importantly the terrorists really threaten the values
that we all care about, the values of freedom, tolerance and
democracy. And this is a fight for everyone."