US, Indonesia mull closer ties

In a speech in late January, Senator Bond called for an end to military sanctions against Indonesia, claiming the country could be a stronger ally in the war on Al Qaeda-linked terrorists. In a statement, Bond said that sanctions on the sale of spare parts had slowed the delivery of aid to tsunami victims. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is also believed to support closer ties.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D) of Vermont, the architect of the 1999 restrictions, disagrees. Senator Leahy, a vocal critic of the TNI, argues that Indonesia's military has done little to change its ways. He says Indonesia has failed to bring to account officers involved in atrocities in East Timor, dismissing the convictions of a Jakarta-based ad hoc court for human rights crimes in East Timor.

In the US Senate last week, Leahy accused the Indonesian military of consistently obstructing justice.

"Although senior Indonesian military officers have repeatedly vowed to support reform, they have done next to nothing to hold their members accountable for these heinous crimes," he said in a statement.

Leahy said that Indonesian officers already receive some US training. Such programs include counterterrorism skills. And Indonesia, with proper disclosure, can purchase from the US some military spare parts for "nonlethal" items.

US investigators have accused the Indonesian military of blocking an FBI investigation into the deaths in 2002 of two Americans for 18 months in the far-flung Papua province near a gold mine operated by a US company. The murders have further complicated efforts to restore links.

Although he did not mention the IMET program, after his visit to Indonesia in mid-January, Wolfowitz said that cooperation between the US and Indonesian militaries could mean closer ties. He said that the US needed to "help build the kind of defense institution that will ensure in the future that the Indonesian military, like our military, is a loyal function of a democratic government."

A study sponsored by the United States-Indonesia Society (USINDO), a Washington-based nongovernment organization, is also calling for the US to lift restrictions on military ties. The report from USINDO, whose members include US corporations that do business in Indonesia, such as Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold and Exxon-Mobil, is calling for expansion of military ties.

Meanwhile, the US still has a 1,000-bed hospital ship, the Mercy, in Aceh's waters as part of the $4.5 billion relief effort there.

But Islamic scholars such as Ulil say that among many ordinary Muslims the enhanced post-tsunami image for the US - regardless of the relations between the governments - will not be permanent. "As long as there is aggression, as long as there is a US presence in Iraq, there will be distrust [among ordinary Muslims], it has very deep roots in history."

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