Agencies, Washington/Jakarta
With the United States courting Indonesia as a partner in its
war against terrorism, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted
on Thursday (Friday Jakarta time) to drop restrictions on military
aid to Indonesia.
In Jakarta, human rights activists deplored the decision,
arguing that the move would only worsen Indonesia's human rights
record.
"The antiterrorism campaign championed by the United
States should not neglect the democratization process and efforts
to promote human rights in the country," said Munir, founder
of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).
He accused the U.S. of putting its short-term interests above
other countries in the fight against terrorism.
Munir dismissed claims that the Indonesian Military (TNI) was
"too weak" to fight against terrorism and violence due
to a lack of military equipment.
Hendardi of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights
Association (PBHI) said the decision was strange as the military
was still refusing to prosecute its officers.
"TNI does not deserve this facility as they are continuing
to defy the legal process and demand impunity for all of their
wrongdoings in the past," Hendardi said.
He stressed that military sanctions should have remained in
place until TNI could prove that they were willing to conduct
internal reform.
"This approval is proof that the U.S. is inconsistent in
promoting human rights and democratization in Indonesia,"
Hendardi added.
However, he said that the decision was understandable, given
the fact that President George Bush was more interested in doing
business rather than carrying out the democratization process.
"It would have been better if the money was spent on the
education of the National Police since they are the ones who are
on the front line in terms of law enforcement," he said.
After lengthy debates, the committee endorsed a government
proposal to provide US$400,000 in military assistance to Jakarta,
which Congress barred from an international military training
program over charges of human rights abuses in East Timor by
Indonesia's military in 1999.
Senators Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and Ted Stevens of Alaska
fought to lift the restrictions, which they said sent the wrong
message to the world's largest Muslim nation.
"It's not the amount, it's the symbol," Inouye said,
adding that the ban ignored the progress that Jakarta had made
since 1999.
The Bush administration is pushing to lift the ban on military
aid to Indonesia, which is 90 percent Muslim and faces serious
threats from radical groups, Inouye and Stevens said.
"We can provide some of the training they need so that
their people can prevent some of the things that happened to
us," Stevens said.
Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who chairs the Appropriations
Foreign Operations subcommittee, fought against the change, saying
that Indonesia was responsible for massacres in East Timor,
forcing children into prostitution, supporting radical Muslim
groups and engaging in drug trafficking and murder.
Leahy said the United States channels aid to Jakarta through
other programs, but should not help its military.
