Human Rights Groups Oppose Joint Training with Indonesian Military
(see also US Warships Arrive For
Exercise With Indonesian Navy and U.S., Indonesian Military
Exercise Opens Despite Criticism)
For Immediate Release
May 16, 2001
Contact:
John M. Miller (ETAN), 718-596-7668; 917-690-4391
Kurt Biddle (IHRN), 202-544-1211
The East Timor Action Network/U.S. (ETAN) and the Indonesia
Human Rights Network (IHRN) today condemned Indonesia's participation in
joint military exercises with the U.S. The groups warned that any military
cooperation sends the wrong message to the Indonesian military (TNI),
which has yet to be held accountable for past human rights abuses in both
East Timor and Indonesia and continues to engage in systematic violations
across the archipelago.
The CARAT 2001 (Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training) military
exercise with the TNI is scheduled to begin May 17 in the Riau Islands.
Previous CARATs, including one held in August 1999 just before East
Timor's independence vote, have included patrolling, live fire training,
and raids. Some Indonesian officers went directly from the 1999 exercise
to East Timor and participated in the referendum-period violence there.
Indonesian military officers this month are also observing the annual
Cobra Gold exercise, which involves the U.S., Thailand and Singapore
"The U.S. should refuse to engage the Indonesian military in any
way while it rejects cooperation with UN investigations of human rights
abuses in East Timor and continues to promote many of the officers
identified as most responsible for the violence during East Timor's
referendum. Not one has been indicted or tried," said John M. Miller,
spokesperson for ETAN. "The few militia prosecuted so far have
received token sentences. The militias in West Timor continue to operate
with TNI support, persecuting East Timorese refugees and launching raids
across the East Timor border."
"This exercise is taking place just 400 miles from the region of
Aceh, where Indonesian security forces are killing civilians on a daily
basis," said Kurt Biddle, Washington coordinator for IHRN. "The
Indonesian armed forces operate without any concern for human rights
there. In December, they murdered three humanitarian workers, and just
last week beat up three journalists."
"IHRN and ETAN are working with members of Congress and others to
make sure that U.S.-Indonesia relations promote human rights and democracy
rather than a return to old habits of coddling a military whose commitment
to reform is highly suspect," added Biddle.
"Whenever the U.S. Congress or administration has blocked military
training or weapons transfers, the Indonesian military has taken notice.
But each time the U.S. has moved to resume or reinforce military ties, TNI
has taken it as signal to continue its brutal business as usual,"
said Miller.
On September 9, 1999 President Clinton suspended all U.S. ties with
Indonesia. Soon after, the Indonesian military began to pull out of East
Timor and Indonesia gave permission for an international peacekeeping
force to enter the territory. Later that year Congress put part of this
ban into law. The FY 2001 Foreign Operations Appropriations Act renewed
those conditions that must be met before normal military ties can be
restored. These include the return of refugees to East Timor and
accountability for military and militia members responsible for human
rights atrocities in East Timor and Indonesia. They also require Indonesia
to actively prevent militia incursions into East Timor and to cooperate
fully with the UN administration in East Timor. None of these conditions
have been met.
The CARAT 1998 was cancelled after the congressional uproar over JCET
(Joint Combined Exchange Training), the program under which the U.S.
taught urban warfare and sniper techniques in circumvention of the
congressional ban on IMET (International Military Exchange Training) for
Indonesia.
In testimony before the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Human
Rights on May 11, 2000, journalist Allan Nairn, said "One of these
officers, Lt. Col. (later Col.) Willem, helped coordinate the Indonesian
naval forces in CARAT and then went to Dili where he served as a senior
official in KOREM military headquarters, the very base from which the
Aitarak militias staged their terror raids during late September. I saw
this first hand since I was a prisoner in KOREM and was interrogated by
Col. Willem."
The East Timor Action Network/U.S. supports human dignity for the
people of East Timor by advocating for democracy, sustainable development,
social, legal, and economic justice and human rights, including women's
rights. ETAN, which has 28 local chapters throughout the U.S., calls for
an international tribunal to prosecute crimes against humanity, which took
place in East Timor since 1975. For additional information see ETAN's web
site: http://www.etan.org.
The Indonesia Human Rights Network is a U.S.-based grassroots
organization working to educate and activate the U.S. public and influence
U.S. foreign policy and private financial interests to support democracy,
demilitarization, accountability, rule of law, and civil society in
Indonesia. We seek to help end armed forces repression and violence in
Indonesia by exposing it to international scrutiny. IHRN works with and
advocates on behalf of people throughout the Indonesian archipelago. For
more information see http://www.indonesianetwork.org.
-- 30 --
Associated Press
May 17, 2001
US Warships Arrive For Exercise With
Indonesian Navy
JAKARTA (AP)--Three U.S. warships arrived in Jakarta Thursday for a
joint humanitarian exercise amid criticism of ties with Indonesia's
military.
Rights groups said the visit would send the wrong message to
Indonesia's army which is yet to be held accountable for alleged
atrocities in East Timor.
"The U.S. should refuse to engage the Indonesian military in any
way while it rejects cooperation with U.N. investigations of human rights
abuses in East Timor," said John Miller, the spokesman for the East
Timor Action Network, a U.S. human rights group.
Indonesia's army and militia proxies rampaged through East Timor in
1999 after the territory voted to break away from Indonesia in a
U.N.-sponsored referendum. About 1,000 people were murdered and 70% of the
province's buildings destroyed.
Indonesia has failed to prosecute those responsible and refused to
extradite them to East Timor, which is now under temporary U.N.
administration, to face trial there.
In a statement, Miller said Indonesia's armed forces were continuing to
commit human rights abuses.
The three U.S. warships - the landing ship USS Rushmore and the
frigates USS Wadsworth and USS Curts - will remain in Indonesia until May
24.
During their visit, they will take part in several disaster relief
drills designed to enhance the two navies' ability to work together.
The exercises are part of the annual Cooperation Afloat and Readiness
Training - or CARAT - mission. Exercises are also held with the navies of
other Asian nations, including Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore.
The Indonesian army, which is blamed for committing human rights abuses
in East Timor and elsewhere, has been pointedly excluded from the joint
project.
The U.S. has maintained an embargo on weapons sales to Indonesia since
the 1999 violence in East Timor.
Jakarta has repeatedly tried to have the ban lifted.
Associated Press
May 18, 2001
US, Indonesian Military Exercise Opens
Despite Criticism
KALI BARU, Indonesia (AP)--As U.S. marines and sailors toiled in the
stifling heat and humidity to refurbish a little schoolhouse in a slum on
the outskirts of Jakarta, dozens of children laughed and scrambled to
touch the visitors.
"This is great to come and give something to this poor
community," said Sgt. John Davis, 33, a marine from Ocala, Florida.
"It's a very humbling experience. The children are so poor but so
excited to see us."
The arrival of the landing ship USS Rushmore and the guided missile
frigate USS Wadsworth marked the first time U.S. warships have visited
Jakarta since 1999. In September that year, Washington cut military ties
with Indonesia after its troops devastated East Timor following an
independence referendum.
The visit comes at a crucial time for Indonesia, the world's fourth
most-populous nation, as it struggles to hold itself together amid
numerous political and social crises.
Alarmed by the prospect of Indonesia's disintegration, U.S. policy
makers have slightly eased the ban on military links to allow for joint
humanitarian exercises.
The current mission, involving about 1,000 U.S. sailors and marines and
hundreds of Indonesian navy personnel, coincides with a sharp escalation
in a separatist war raging in Indonesia's westernmost Aceh province.
Meanwhile, parliament is moving ahead with plans to impeach President
Abdurrahman Wahid, the country's first democratically elected leader in
four decades, over alleged corruption.
The naval visit has drawn criticism from international groups because
of the Indonesian army's dismal human rights record.
"The Indonesian armed forces operate without any concern for human
rights," said Kurt Biddle, the coordinator for the Washington-based
Indonesian Human Rights Network.
The exercises are part of the annual Cooperation Afloat and Readiness
Training - or CARAT - mission. Similar exercises are held with other Asian
nations, including Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore.
The two warships are also scheduled to take part in several disaster
relief drills with Indonesia's navy. The training is designed to enhance
the two navies' ability to work together.
The Indonesian army, which is blamed for most human rights abuses
across the far-flung archipelago, has been pointedly excluded from the
joint project.
Jakarta has repeatedly tried to have the ban on equipment sales lifted.
Defense Minister Mohammed Mahfud claimed that a shortage of spare parts
for Hercules C-130 transports prevented the security forces from deploying
reinforcements to end ethnic fighting on Borneo island that killed 500
people in February.
Washington rejected Jakarta's criticism saying that the ban on spare
parts sales was relaxed last year to allow the air force and navy - which
weren't blamed for the bloodshed in Timor or other human rights abuses -
to purchase non-lethal equipment.
Not far from the school where the marines were sawing, sanding and
painting, a medical team was treating sick and injured local residents.
Hundreds of people from the shantytown queued up for hours to get free
medical care. Working with doctors from Indonesia's navy, the team carried
out simple operations, extracted teeth and distributed drugs.
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