US, Indonesia mull closer ties

The USS Abraham Lincoln wrapped up a month-long emergency relief mission last week and left the waters off Indonesia's tsunami-afflicted Aceh Province.

But left in the Lincoln's wake are ripples of interest in both the United States and Indonesia for a return to closer ties. Fresh debate has emerged in Congress over whether to restore relations with the Indonesian military, which had been damaged by human rights concerns. In Indonesia, the month-long US presence has so far helped to polish America's image, which political observers say had been tarnished by the war in Iraq.

"The tsunami in Aceh showed that people in the West were serious in giving aid to Muslim counties," says Ulil Abshar Abdalla, an Islamic scholar and liberal Muslim activist. "It will shift perceptions of the West as a bloc."

Mr. Ulil says that prominent Islamic leaders thanked US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz at a meeting at the US Ambassador's residence in Jakarta. "It was the first time, I'd heard [the Islamic leaders] say thanks," says Mr. Ulil. "It made me very happy."

Mr. Wolfowitz, a former ambassador to Indonesia, is among those calling for closer military ties with the world's largest majority-Muslim country. Wolfowitz told reporters in Jakarta last month, "We would also like to see how the TNI [the Indonesian military] has endeavored to put itself under the control of civilian supremacy."

Supporters of mending the 13-year rift with Indonesia's military argue that it could be a more central ally in the war on terrorists, including Southeast Asian groups linked to Al Qaeda. Indonesia's navy also polices the Malacca Straits, a major world shipping lane prone to pirate attacks, and, intelligence agents say, possibly a major marine terrorist attack.

Critics claim that the Indonesian military has not done enough to reform itself after decades of human rights abuses, including in Aceh province, which has been the site of a separatist rebellion since 1976.

The US ended a training program known as IMET with Indonesia in 1991 after Indonesian soldiers massacred demonstrators in a graveyard in mostly Catholic East Timor. The ties were further scaled back in 1999, after the Indonesian military orchestrated a scorched earth campaign killing hundreds, following East Timor's vote for independence in a UN-sponsored plebiscite.

The US training programs, which included courses on operating a civilian chain of command, are exactly those needed by militaries such as Indonesia to improve their record, argue supporters such as Sen. Kit Bond (R) of Missouri. Under the IMET program, Indonesian officers were exposed to Western military practices, including codes of conduct and rules of engagement.

John Haseman, a former US military attaché in Jakarta, says that the "cost of cutting IMET" has been that many senior officers have not had exposure to US military practices. Some US military observers have noted that tsunami relief coordination went more smoothly with the Thais because both militaries know each other under the IMET program, and have conducted military operations together. India, Pakistan, and Malaysia also take part in the program.

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