Congress Opposes Military Training for Indonesia

The East Timor Action Network today released the text of two congressional letters expressing disapproval of ongoing training of the Indonesian military.

"The two letters represent part of the growing public and congressional opposition to the training of an Indonesian military that abuses human rights in Indonesia and East Timor," said Lynn Fredriksson, Washington Representative of the East Timor Action Network.

In their "Dear Colleague" letters, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Rep. Lane Evans (D-IL) expressed their opposition at the continued training of the Indonesian military saying it violated the spirit of the 1992 cut-off of IMET military training aid following the massacre of over 270 people in Dili, East Timor.

Training has continued under the Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) program. Rep. Lowey says she intends to introduce legislation shortly to close the loophole that permits Indonesian participation in JCET. Her "International Military Education and Training Act" will make it law that if Congress bans a country's participation in IMET, the Department of Defense must stop all military training to that country.

"This makes the Department of Defense's military training program consistent with Congressional intent, and eliminates any room for misinterpretation," Lowey said in her letter.

Indonesian participation in JCET was revealed in a letter from the Department of Defense to Rep. Evans. The letter and other research released by ETAN and members of Congress last week shows that the U.S. has been training Indonesia's armed forces (including the notorious Kopassus special forces) in combat procedures, including sniper training, urban warfare, explosives, and other tactics used to suppress civilian dissent in Indonesia and East Timor. At least 36 such training courses took place between 1992 and 1997, in clear violation of the intent of the U.S. Congress.

On Monday, the New York Times editorialized that the "case for an end to the riot troop training is now especially strong because it seems likely that the troops will be used to crush legitimate democratic protests." It accused the Pentagon of "cynically sidestepp[ing] Congressional objections" to training. "In Indonesia, the riot-suppression trainees can be expected to absorb American instruction in subjects like advanced sniper techniques and special air operations and ignore any accompanying civics lessons," the Times added.

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Nita M. Lowey
Congress of the United States

March 25, 1998

INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRAINING SHOULD BE CONSISTENT WITH CONGRESSIONAL INTENT

Dear Colleague;

As you may have seen in recent news reports, the Department of Defense has been sidestepping congressional intent by providing military training to Indonesia and other nations.

Congress has imposed restrictions on several countriesa including Indonesia, prohibiting them from participating in the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program. These restrictions were passed to eliminate United States support for the militaries of these targeted nations. Many of these targeted militaries have amassed long and atrocious human rights records. The United States should not be in the business of training armies that have been implicated in cases of torture, murder, and disappearances.

It has come to light recently that despite these restrictions, the Department of Defense has been providing military training through other channels to these same countries, including Indonesia. That is why I am introducing the International Military Training Accountability Act. My legislation says very simply that if Congress prohibits a nation from participating in the IMET program, the Department of Defense must stop all military training to that country. This makes the Department of Defense's military training program consistent with congressional intent, and eliminates any room for misinterpretation.

I commend your attention to the attached New York Times editorial on this, matter. If you have any questions, or would like to be an original cosponsor of the International Military Training Accountability Act, please call Matthew Traub in my office at x56506.

Sincerely,


Nita M Lowey
Member of Congress

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The New York Times
Monday, March 23, 1998

Editorial: Military Mischief in Indonesia

American military training for Indonesia's notoriously brutal anti-riot troops is a dangerous idea that was expressly prohibited by Congress on human rights grounds years ago. But such training has been going on, quietly, since 1992. The Pentagon cynically sidestepped Congressional objections by moving the Indonesian training from the military education program, where it was prohibited, to a different bureaucratic pocket.

The case for an end to the riot troop training is now especially strong because it seems likely that the troops will be used to crush legitimate democratic protests. President Suharto's erratic response to the severe economic crisis and his stage-managed re-election have sent demonstrators into the streets and his Government's legitimacy to a new low.

Regrettably, the Defense Department persists in believing that all military training programs are of great benefit to the United States. Pentagon officials argue that such training forges valuable friendships with future foreign military leaders and teaches trainees greater respect for civilian authority and for human rights.

Such benefits may realistically be expected in countries where top military and political leaders are committed to professionalizing the armed forces. But the record of American training efforts in repressive military cultures like Indonesia's is bleak. Unambiguous success stories are rare, while some military graduates of American training programs, like Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega in Panama, have gone on to lead ugly, anti-American dictatorships. In Indonesia, the riot-suppression trainees can be expected to absorb American instruction in subjects like advanced sniper techniques and special air operations and ignore any accompanying civics lessons.

Washington faces difficult enough challenges as the Indonesian crisis unfolds. It should not be complicating its agenda by tying the reputation of the United States to anti-riot troops whose history is marked by gratuitous violence and whose future behavior Washington is powerless to control.
 

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Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

March 25, 1998

Dear Colleague,

Last fall, I wrote Secretary of Defense William Cohen requesting detailed information on the training of members of the Kopassus, the special forces division of the Indonesian military. The Kopassus is infamous for its role as ruthless "enforcer" of the 22 year Indonesian occupation of East Timor.

The Indonesian Military had been trained for years by U.S. armed forces under the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program. In 1992, Congress banned U.S. taxpayer funded IMET training to Indonesia in the wake of the brutal massacre of over 270 peaceful demonstrators in an East Timor cemetery. This ban was enacted in an attempt to put an end to the egregious human rights abuses that President Suharto's regime has committed against its own people and the people of East Timor.

Last month, I received a response from the Pentagon describing how the United States' continued training of the Indonesian military under another program - the Joint Combined Exchange Training program (JCET). While the JCET program is technically legal, I am deeply disturbed that the U.S. continues to provide any military training to the notoriously brutal and repressive Indonesian military.

Shockingly enough, Secretary Cohen has recently expressed a desire to seek the full restoration of IMET assistance to Indonesia.

I commend to your attention this recent New York Times editorial sharing my view and giving national attention to the need to ban all reaming U.S. military training to Indonesia.

Sincerely,

Lane Evans
Member of Congress

[The New York Times' editorial of Monday, March 23, 1998, "MilitaryMischief in Indonesia," is reproduced on the letter.]