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US ban on military training for
Indonesia stays
BROOKLYN,
New York - The US Congress on Thursday restored a ban on
International Military Education and Training (IMET) for
Indonesia, just months after President George W Bush
cited a "changed attitude" among legislators that would
permit further military cooperation.
The
Consolidated Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2004,
HR 2673, bans IMET until the State Department determines
that the Indonesian military (TNI) and government are
cooperating with the US Federal Bureau of
Investigation's investigation into an ambush that killed
two US citizens and an Indonesian in Papua. The
Indonesian military is implicated in the attack in the
mining operations area of Louisiana-based
Freeport-McMoRan, which also wounded 11 people,
including a six-year-old child.
"Congress must
carefully monitor the progress of any investigations and
press for credible prosecution and punishment of those
responsible for these killings," said John M Miller,
spokesperson for the East Timor Action Network (ETAN).
"The Bush administration has claimed in the past that
the Indonesian military was cooperating when clearly it
was not. Saying there is cooperation won't make it so."
The bill continues the ban on foreign military
financing of weapons sales and licenses for the export
of lethal defense articles to Indonesia until a range of
conditions are met, including extradition of those
indicted by the joint United Nations-East Timor Serious
Crimes Unit, a public audit of TNI funds, and
prosecution of TNI members "who have been credibly
alleged to have committed gross violations of human
rights, or to have aided or abetted militia groups", and
punishment of those found guilty.
"Congress
should insist that IMET not be renewed until the
investigation is successfully completed and the
perpetrators punished," said Patsy Spier, a survivor of
the Papua attack. "I expect Congress to request a
detailed justification from the State Department should
it determine that there is genuine cooperation from the
Indonesian government and the armed forces in respect to
the investigation into the August 31, 2002, murders of
my husband Rick Spier, Ted Burgon, and Bambang Riwanto."
Karen Orenstein, ETAN's Washington coordinator,
said: "Congress, after more than a year of TNI's own
'investigation', clearly remains disturbed by the lack
of progress in resolving these horrific killings in
Papua. "History demonstrates that providing training
only emboldens the Indonesian military to violate human
rights and block accountability for past injustices."
While praising the restoration of the IMET ban,
ETAN urged Congress to expand the conditions on
resumption of IMET and extend conditionality to
counter-terrorism training.
"Indonesia has yet
to fulfill congressional conditions previously placed on
IMET, including accountability for rights violations in
East Timor and Indonesia and transparency in the
military budget," said Orenstein. "There is no
justification for the removal of these conditions. Now,
a massive military assault is being perpetrated against
the people of Aceh - replete with extrajudicial
executions, torture, rape and displacement - utilizing
US-supplied weapons. All assistance to the Indonesian
military must be terminated, including counter-terrorism
assistance."
Miller said: "The Bush
administration is giving the TNI far more assistance for
counter-terrorism than for IMET. But the TNI continues
to terrorize Indonesia's residents; the military's
human-rights record remains atrocious. The
administration chooses to ignore evidence that the TNI
works with the fundamentalist militia Laskar Jihad,
which has caused tremendous conflict in Maluku and now
in Papua. Who are the real terrorists here?"
Background
A 2002 study for the US
Naval Postgraduate School noted that the Indonesian army
had become "a major facilitator of terrorism" because of
"the radical Muslim militias they had organized,
trained, and financed" (Dr Gaye Christoffersen,
"Strategic Insight: The War on Terrorism in Southeast
Asia", Center for Contemporary Conflict, National
Security Affairs Department, Naval Postgraduate School,
March 2002).
The appropriations bill states:
"The managers remain troubled by the situation in Aceh
and the ongoing conflict that has killed, injured and
displaced thousands of innocent civilians. The
managers.continue to believe that this conflict will
only be resolved through a political process."
Congress first voted to restrict Indonesia from
receiving IMET, which brings foreign military officers
to the United States for training, in response to the
November 12, 1991, Santa Cruz massacre of more than 270
civilians in East Timor. All military ties with
Indonesia were severed in September 1999 as the
Indonesian military and its militia proxies razed East
Timor after its vote for independence.
Congress
originally approved US$400,000 for IMET in FY03, but
Indonesia's participation in the program was ultimately
limited to Expanded IMET, which involves limited
classroom training.
In an interview prior to his
October visit to Indonesia, Bush stated, "Congress has
changed their attitude" and was ready to provide further
military assistance "because of the cooperation of the
government on the killings of two US citizens".
The State Department is believed to have
recently placed on its visa watch list the
highest-ranking personnel indicted for crimes against
humanity by the joint UN-East Timor Special Crimes Unit,
including former military chief General Wiranto, a
leading presidential candidate in Indonesia. Others on
the list are General Zacky Anwar Makarim, Major-General
Kiki Syahnakri, General Adam Damiri, Colonel Tono
Suratman, Colonel Mohammad Noer Muis, Lieutenant-Colonel
Yayat Sudrajat, and former East Timor governor Abilio
Jose Osorio Soares.
The East
Timor Action Network advocates for
democracy, justice and human rights for East Timor and
Indonesia.
(East Timor Action Network)
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