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."