US Australia eye military ties with Jakarta

Canberra eyes military ties with Jakarta

http://au.news.yahoo.com//050228/2/t9x9.html

Canberra eyes military ties with Jakarta
Australia has backed a United States decision to resume defence ties with Indonesia, paving the way for a boost in Jakarta's military capacity despite protests from human rights groups.
The US State Department on the weekend announced Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had approved Jakarta's efforts to cooperate with an FBI investigation into the murders of two American schoolteachers during an ambush in remote Papua province in 2002.
The US Congress had made cooperation a condition for Indonesian access to US military training for officers, which in turn could lead to the lifting of a long-standing arms embargo between the two countries which has hobbled the Indonesian air force in particular.
Australian defence minister Robert Hill "welcomed" the US decision, a spokeswoman said.
Canberra, which pared back defence ties in 1999 after the army-backed militia rampage in East Timor, has been urging Washington to bolster military cooperation with Jakarta to help battle Islamic extremism in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
"We welcome any decision which would help," Senator Hill's spokeswoman said.
But the US-based East Timor Action Network said Washington's decision was a betrayal of international efforts to hold Jakarta accountable over the post-Independence vote carnage in East Timor, which left at least 1,500 people dead.
ETAN spokesman John Miller said while the US$600,000 program was small, it was symbolic and "a setback for justice, human rights and democratic reform." "We urge the administration to reconsider its decision and call on Congress to put in place tighter and broader restrictions on all military assistance to Indonesia," he said.
"The Indonesian military's many victims throughout the country and East Timor will recognise this policy shift as a betrayal of their quests for justice and accountability." Indonesia's new president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has sought to restore defence ties first restricted by Washington in 1992 following the killing by Indonesian troops of more than 270 East Timorese pro-independence supporters during a rally in Dili.
A complete ban on arms sales and spare parts followed the East Timor slaughter and requires congressional approval for removal.
To clear the way for the ban to be lifted, Yudhoyono recently reshuffled Indonesia's top brass in preparation for US-educated army chief Djoko Santoso to take over the military in place of the xenophobic heir apparent General Ryamizard Ryacudu.
But leading human rights lawyer Hendardi said the US was putting its strategic interests ahead of human rights concerns.
"I don't understand what they mean when they say Indonesia has made progress on human rights issues, because that's not what's happening here," he said.
New Zealand, which also froze military cooperation with Jakarta in 1999, said it was not ready to follow the American lead, because no Indonesian troops had been brought to justice.
"We had mass devastation and multiple killings, but nobody was found to be responsible," Foreign Minister Phil Goff said.
"We would like to see those responsible held to account." Miller said the Indonesian military, or TNI, would take the US decision as an endorsement of business as usual.
"For the TNI, business as usual means brutal human rights violations and continued impunity for crimes against humanity," he said.
Australia, which did not completely sever ties in 1999, may use the American decision to speed up the full restoration of links, including with the feared Kopassus special forces.
Canberra wants to renew counterterrorism training for the 5,000-strong unit, which allegedly backed and covertly armed the pro-Jakarta militia in East Timor.
"We will keep reviewing the situation," Senator Hill's spokeswoman said.