Congress Urged to Block New Training for Indonesian Military
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U.S. Congress Urged to Block New Training for Indonesian Military
Wed Oct 9, 8:13 PM ET
Jim Lobe,OneWorld US
A group of Indonesian human rights organizations is urging the United
States Congress to maintain tough conditions on renewing U.S. training of
the Indonesian military (TNI) even as the administration of President
George W. Bush is actively enlisting the TNI in Washington's "war on
terrorism."
In a letter sent last week to each lawmaker, the eight organizations
expressed "great alarm" at steps taken during the summer by congressional
committees to lift restrictions on military training for the TNI that were
first imposed more than 10 years ago after the army massacred as many as
300 civilians in East Timor.
Those restrictions were tightened in 1999 when TNI-organized militias laid
waste to East Timor after the inhabitants of the former Portuguese colony
voted overwhelmingly for independence in a United Nations-supervised
referendum.
Restoration of military training under the State Department's International
Military and Education Training (IMET) program or a new counter-terrorism
program for which the administration has allocated US$4 million for TNI
officers will do "irreparable damage...to our efforts at reform; any
further attempts by the TNI to change old practices will almost certainly
end," the groups said.
The groups include the Commission for Disappearances and Victims of
Violence (Kontras), ELSAM-Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy, the
Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association, National Solidarity for
Papua, Solidamor, Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial), Center for
Internally Displaced People's Services, and Women's Solidarity for Human
Rights. Their letter was released Tuesday by the Washington-based East
Timor Action Network.
Both the TNI and the Bush administration have pushed hard for restoring
full military ties and training during the past year. The administration
has said the TNI's cooperation in Washington's anti-terrorism campaign is
critical to its success in Southeast Asia, a major focus of al-Qaeda's
outreach efforts. Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population.
Washington has insisted that al-Qaeda has links to leaders of some militant
Islamist groups in Indonesia and has urged President Megawati Sukarnoputri
to move against them. The government has quietly turned over two
individuals wanted by Washington and last month detained a German citizen,
Seyam Reda, named by Washington as an al-Qaeda operative, in what was
hailed by U.S. officials as an important breakthrough in securing Jakarta's
cooperation.
But experts on Indonesia and independent groups, such as those that sent
the letter to Congress, contend that Washington is exaggerating the threat
posed by such groups and that the much greater threat, particularly to the
human rights of Indonesians, is the same TNI with which Washington is so
eager to resume close ties.
"Like the U.S. government, we are also concerned about the existence of
radical Islamic groups in Indonesia. But only a very small minority of
Indonesians are involved with these organizations, which have little to no
proven connection to international terrorist networks," the groups wrote.
"Moreover," they went on, "these groups frequently operate with covert and,
in some cases, overt support of elements of the military, police, and
government. The greatest threat Indonesians face, and the greatest obstacle
to real democracy, is the military. If the standard definition of
'terrorism' is applied to events in Indonesia, then the true terrorists are
the security forces."
Backed by reports from the State Department, these groups argue that there
has been virtually no progress by the Indonesian government on meeting
conditions attached to any resumption of U.S. training. Conditions included
bringing to justice those responsible for the East Timor rampage,
guaranteeing access for international humanitarian organizations to other
zones of conflict in the sprawling archipelago, and ensuring civilian
control over the military.
The groups are urging U.S. lawmakers to vote against committee bills on
easing the restrictions when they go before both houses and instead to
retain in full the current conditions on training.
They wrote that the TNI continues to use militias in other conflict areas,
such as Aceh, Papua, and the Maluku islands to terrorize the local
population and human rights activists and pursue its own political and
economic interests.
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John M. Miller Internet: jo...@etan.org
Media & Outreach Coordinator
East Timor Action Network: 10 Years for Self-Determination & Justice
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[This message was distributed via the east-timor news list.]