|
|
Rights groups blast
move to strengthen US-Indonesian military ties
|
The
Associated Press
Mon Jul 22, 6:56 AM ET
|
Rights groups
blast move to strengthen US-Indonesian military ties
By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated
Press Writer
JAKARTA, Indonesia - The armed
forces on Monday welcomed a move within the U.S. Congress to
reinstate military ties with Indonesia, a move denounced by human
rights groups as an endorsement of an abusive and undemocratic
institution.
"This is a very dangerous
move," said Munir, the founder of Kontras, Indonesia's most
prominent human rights organization.
"The (Indonesian) military
badly needs this endorsement from the United States in order to
further legitimize its meddling in politics (and) human rights
violations," said Munir, who uses a single name.
On Friday, the U.S. Senate's
appropriations committee approved an amendment to lift
restrictions on Indonesian military participation in the Pentagon
( news
- web
sites)'s International Military Education and Training
program, known as IMET.
Although the bill still has a long
way to go in Congress before becoming law, the prospect of
resuming ties has alarmed human rights groups, who see the
military as the main obstacle to democratic reforms in Indonesia
after more than three decades of army-backed dictatorship.
Existing legislation prohibits U.S.
military assistance to the Indonesian military to punish it for
its role in the devastation of East Timor ( news
- web
sites), after its voted for independence from Indonesia in a
1999 U.N.-supervised referendum.
The current law requires that
Jakarta cooperate with investigations and prosecutions of armed
forces members responsible for human rights abuses in East Timor
and the restive provinces of Aceh, Maluku and West Papua.
Human rights groups say that
condition has not been met.
Brig. Gen. Tono Suratman, an armed
forces spokesman, welcomed the U.S. Senate committee's decision,
saying the resumption of military ties would help Indonesia and
the United States coordinate their efforts in the war on
terrorism.
"In this ... we are able to
share information, exchange experiences in combatting terrorists
and train our anti-terrorist units and command staffs," he
said. Suratman, a former commander in East Timor, is among 18
military and government officials indicted for the violence that
left hundreds of civilians dead in the former Indonesian
territory.
"IMET programs are good
because they also enable the United States to understand the logic
of conflicts in Indonesia," said Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
the government's top security minister and retired general.
Rights groups have sharply
criticized what they say is a recent push by U.S. President George
W. Bush ( news
- web
sites)'s administration — spearheaded by Deputy Defense
Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, a former ambassador to Jakarta — to
re-establish relations with the Indonesian military.
Wolfowitz contends that restarting
ties will help the Indonesian military reform itself and help it
understand the concept of civilian control over the military.
"The reopening of military
ties is badly timed and based on a complete misreading of
conditions in Indonesia," said Jeffrey Winters, a professor
and Indonesia analyst at Northwestern University near Chicago.
"There are clear signs that authoritarianism is making a
comeback. The military, particularly the army, has not been held
accountable for any atrocities."
The army, which was the power
behind the brutal 32-year dictatorship of former President Suharto
( news
- web
sites), traditionally relied on the United States as its main
source of weapons and training.
Under Suharto, the generals exerted
tight control and repressed opposition. They lost power after
Suharto was deposed in 1998, but regained clout under Megawati
Sukarnoputri, who became president in July.
Since then, non-governmental
organizations have denounced the security forces for resuming a
bloody crackdown against separatist rebels in Aceh province —
which they say has killed hundreds of civilians — and for
killing a political leader in West Papua province.
"The senators who voted to
restore full IMET have effectively given U.S. backing to continued
gross violations of human rights," said John M. Miller,
spokesman for the New York-based East Timor Action Network.
"In the name of the 'war on
terrorism,' the Senate committee will only promote the continued
terrorization of the Indonesian people by its military," he
said in a statement.
|
