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Asia Times Southeast Asia Jan 28, 2009 SPEAKING FREELYRethink needed on US arms to IndonesiaBy Ed McWilliams During the Cold War, the United States built alliances with notoriously corrupt, abusive regimes, including that of Suharto in Indonesia. Since September 11, 2001, a policy of strengthening relationships with disreputable militaries has re-emerged in the name of fighting terrorism. President Barack Obama should re-evaluate the partnership his predecessor established with the Indonesian military. The US once again is providing material and training assistance to the Indonesian military (TNI). While democracy has made significant gains since the 1998 overthrow of Suharto, Indonesia's military remains much as it was during the three decades of the Suharto era: corrupt, unaccountable, beyond civilian control and a notorious violator of human rights. The US-Indonesian military relationship is a longstanding and troubled one. In 1991, the Indonesian military murdered more than 270 East Timorese students engaged in a peaceful demonstration. That atrocity prompted the US Congress to impose restrictions on military assistance.
Although the Indonesian military remained an unreformed force, it curtailed some of its most abusive actions. But in 1999, following the East Timor's overwhelming vote for independence, the Indonesian military and its militias murdered more than 1,400 civilians and destroyed most of East Timor's infrastructure. In response, the US suspended all military assistance. For the first time, there was modest military reform in Indonesia. The military agreed to pull its unelected members out of parliament; the police and military were separated; and 18 people, including some senior military officers, were indicted for the 1999 atrocities in East Timor. In 2004, the administration of newly-elected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono passed legislation mandating divestment of the TNI's business empire by October 2009. The requirement that the military divest itself of legal businesses could be a vital step in Indonesia's democratic reform. The TNI's empire of legal and illegal businesses has allowed it to operate outside of civilian scrutiny and control. Indonesian human rights advocates fear that the military will disrupt upcoming elections and ignore the 2009 divestment deadline. They have urged the US to use its leverage to encourage TNI reform. Washington's pursuit of the TNI as a "partner" in the fight against terrorism raises other fundamental issues. American assistance to and cooperation with the TNI ignores the reality that it is the Indonesian police and not the military that are responsible for fighting terrorism. (The latest Department of State "Country Reports on Terrorism" praises civilian efforts and does not mention the TNI.)
In November 2005, the George W Bush administration issued a "national security waiver" to eliminate congressionally mandated restrictions on aid to the TNI. At the time, former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice pledged that US military cooperation would be "carefully calibrated" to the pace of reform and accountability. However, there was no calibration and reform has stopped. Specifically, TNI business divestment is dead in the water. The government has yet to release a long-completed inventory of TNI businesses despite the Defense Minister's repeated promises that he would do so. Reportedly, assets have been stripped from TNI-owned firms. The US State Department's annual human rights report describes TNI prostitution rings in Papua, while illegal logging and extortion of foreign and domestic firms continues there and elsewhere. The TNI remains unaccountable for its crimes in East Timor, West Papua and elsewhere. None of those tried in Indonesia for crimes in East Timor in 1999 were convicted. Many of the officers indicted by the UN-backed judicial process in East Timor received military training in the US. All remain free in Indonesia, often receiving promotions or retiring to lucrative careers in business or politics. The organizers of the 2004 assassination of Indonesia's leading human-rights advocate, Munir Said Thalib, have yet to be successfully prosecuted. Evidence points to retired senior military officials. On taking office, Yudhoyono called bringing to justice the killers of Munir a test for his administration. Thus far, it has failed the test. Despite declarations of neutrality, the TNI has already interfered in upcoming elections. Senior officials expressed a strong preference among the senior retired officers running for governor in Central Java. Its "territorial command system" will allow the TNI to exert direct influence on voters down to district and sub-district levels. The TNI-backed fundamentalist Islamic Defenders Front has been intimidating smaller parties and individuals critical of the military. The record is clear. In the decades prior to 1991, broad US engagement with the Indonesian military enabled its worst excesses. Only after aid restrictions and a full cut-off were instituted, did any real reform occur. Since the US re-engaged with the TNI, reform has stalled and accountability for past violations has faltered. A resumption of restrictions on aid is essential to military reform. An unreformed Indonesian military is a threat to democratic progress in Indonesia. Its ties to Islamist militias and drug and people trafficking, make the TNI a threat to regional stability. Moreover, US support for the abusive, corrupt and unaccountable military damages the US's reputation in Indonesia. Obama should break from his predecessor's failed policies by again conditioning military assistance to Indonesia. Ed McWilliams is a retired US diplomat. He worked as political counselor in Jakarta and received the American Foreign Service Association's Christian Herter Award for creative dissent by a senior foreign service official. Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say. See also: |
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