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P.O. Box 15774
Washington, DC 20003-0774
16 July 2002
Dear Appropriations Committee Member:
We are writing to respectfully request your support for (1)
the renewal of restrictions on International Military Training
and Education (IMET) and Foreign Military Financing (FMF) programs
for Indonesia in the FY03 Foreign Operations Appropriations
bill, and (2) inclusion of language that excludes the training
of Indonesian security forces under the Regional Counter-terrorism
Fellowship program in the FY03 Department of Defense Appropriations
bill.
We are dismayed by the Pentagon's end-run on the IMET restriction
via the Regional Counter-terrorism Fellowship program (HR 3338,
sec. 8125). It is counter-productive and sends a confused message
to Jakarta to withhold prestigious U.S. military training in
order to encourage military reform and accountability for crimes
against humanity while offering the same training under a different
program. Such a policy undermines U.S. credibility in the eyes
of Indonesia's armed forces and civil society. "Vetting"
potential training participants for past abuses by the U.S.
Embassy in Jakarta is not an answer. The records of the professional
histories of individual candidates required to adequately vet
Indonesian security forces simply do not exist.
The Pentagon and others in the Administration have argued that
the U.S. needs to open channels in order to influence the TNI.
We remain unconvinced about what influence the Pentagon hopes
to achieve, when past experience demonstrates that exposure
to U.S. military culture has done little or nothing to improve
TNI practices. The 1999 scorched-earth campaign in East Timor
followed decades of engagement that never tempered Indonesian
military abuses. Moreover, the Pentagon's argument is disingenuous;
many channels of influence currently exist, including some that
have only recently been opened. Results from these "carrots"
given to the TNI -- E-IMET reinstatement, high-level meetings,
bilateral naval exercises, lifting the embargo on the sale of
non-lethal commercial defense articles - have been thin at best
and do not justify greater engagement.
In fact, we have seen the following:
Military Reform: Human rights advocates, academics,
and even Administration officials have acknowledged that reform
of the TNI is dead for now. Under President Megawati, the military
is as powerful as ever, regaining ground lost after Suharto
was forced out of office. It retains heavy influence over the
civilian government. Current and former military officers with
notorious human rights records hold crucial government positions,
including membership in President Megawati's cabinet. The TNI
leadership has appointed to key positions officers who should
be prosecuted for crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The military is determined to maintain, if not enlarge, its
territorial comma+nd structure through the creation of new commands.
In early 2002, a new military command was established in Aceh.
This followed the re-establishment of a command in Maluku in
1999. New units in the mold of the notorious elite special forces
Kopassus, known as tontaikam (security surveillance platoon),
have been formed and deployed to Aceh and other conflict zones.
General Mahidin Simbolon, who played a key role in organizing,
training, arming, and directing East Timor militia, was promoted
and now commands the TNI in West Papua, where he has organized
East Timor-style militia. TNI forces are reportedly also establishing
militia units in Aceh which are being used to intimidate the
civilian population through terror. There is broad expectation
that, under military pressure, the Indonesian government will
declare a state of emergency or martial law in Aceh in the very
near future, giving the military an even freer hand. Through
assassinations and arrests, the military works to undermine
efforts at peaceful dialogue to resolve the conflicts in Aceh
and West Papua.
The TNI continues to draw between two-thirds to three-quarters
of its income from off-line budgeting and an extensive network
of legal, semi-legal, and illegal activities that include illegal
logging (notably in West Papua); sale of fishing licenses to
foreign fishing vessels including some which employ environmentally-destructive
drag nets; prostitution rings; illegal drug activities (notably
marijuana grown in Aceh); and outright extortion (targeting
minority-owned businesses, notably Chinese).
U.S. National Security Interest: Not only is the TNI
an unreliable partner for the U.S., support for the armed forces
alienates moderate Indonesians who see the military as the major
roadblock to democratic reform.
Support for the Islamic fundamentalist militant group Laskar
Jihad by powerful military and government leaders is well-documented.
Laskar Jihad units have been allowed to freely move around the
archipelago, fomenting and exacerbating conflict, often with
direct TNI assistance, in West Papua, Maluku, Central Sulawesi,
and elsewhere. The TNI itself has a strong Islamic fundamentalist
streak which renders it an untrustworthy and possibly dangerous
partner.
Human Rights and Accountability: Human rights conditions
have markedly deteriorated over the past year, especially in
Aceh, West Papua, and Maluku. The ad hoc human rights tribunal
on East Timor now taking place in Jakarta is a sham. Rather
than address the systematic role of the military and its formation
of lethal militia groups, the trial has provided a forum for
the UN to be accused of rigging the referendum and blamed for
the violence and destruction in 1999.
The "war on terrorism" should not become a vehicle
to support state-sponsored military terror on civilians in Indonesia.
The Pentagon and some in the Administration have worked for
the removal of the IMET and FMF restrictions long before the
attacks on September 11. No amount of U.S. military training
will resolve the problems of the TNI because the problems are
political in nature. As the International Crisis Group in May
2002 reported, "Better military training will not alter
the fact that there is a fundamental lack of political will
on the part of the Indonesian national civilian and military
authorities to exert control over private armies, punish abusive
soldiers, end military corruption or proceed with long-promised
reforms."
Military restrictions are the primary leverage the U.S. government
has over the TNI. If Congress removes them, the TNI will take
this as an endorsement of business-as-usual and nothing will
be gained. Congress, acting as the government's conscience,
has time and again redirected Administration policies when they
have strayed from oft-stated principles of respect for human
rights and democracy. This has been especially true in the case
of East Timor. We urge Congress to do the same for Indonesia
by renewing the IMET and FMF restrictions and excluding Indonesian
forces from training under the Regional Counter- terrorism Fellowship
program.
We thank you for your ongoing attention to these important
matters.
Sincerely,
Kani Xulam
Director
American Kurdish Information Network
Joanna Kerr
Executive Director
Association for Women's Rights in Development
Robert Doolittle
Chairman
Boston Catholic Task Force for East Timor
Carmen Trotta
Associate Editor
Catholic Worker
Mark Toney
Executive Director
Center for Third World Organizing
Rev. John L. McCullough
Executive Director
Church World Service
Rick Jahnkow
Program Coordinator
Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD)
Stan De Boe, OSST
Justice and Peace Director
Conference of Major Superiors of Men
Roland Watson
Dictator Watch
Karen Orenstein
Washington Coordinator
East Timor Action Network
Erik Gustafson
Executive Director
Education for Peace in Iraq Center
Jackie Lynn
Executive Director
Episcopal Peace Fellowship
Tamar Gabelnick
Director, Arms Sales Monitoring Project
Federation of American Scientists
John M. Miller
Director
Foreign Bases Project
Joe Volk
Executive Secretary
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Dr. Gregory H. Stanton
The International Campaign to End Genocide, Coordinator
Genocide Watch, President
Medea Benjamin
Founding Director
Global Exchange
James Vijayakumar
Area Executive
Global Ministries, a common witness of the Division of Overseas
Ministries, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and Wider
Church Ministries, a covenanted ministry of the United Church
of Christ
Alice Zachmann
Director
Guatemala Human Rights Commission, USA
Melinda Miles
Coordinator
Haiti Reborn/Quixote Center
Peter H. Juviler
Director
Human Rights Studies, Barnard College, Columbia University
Angela Garcia
Organizer
Illinois Peace Action Education Fund
Robert Pedersen
Trade and Labor Coordinator
Indiana Alliance for Democracy
Kurt Biddle
Coordinator
Indonesia Human Rights Network
John Oei
Founder
Indonesian, Chinese, and American Network
Michele Bohana
Director
Institute for Asian Democracy
Martha Honey
Co-Director, Foreign Policy In Focus
Institute for Policy Studies
Joseph Grieboski
President and Founder
Institute on Religion and Public Policy
Bama Athreya
Deputy Director
International Labor Rights Fund
Aviva Imhof
Director, Southeast Asia Program
International Rivers Network
Eileen B. Weiss and Sharon Silber
Co-Founders
Jews Against Genocide
Colin Rajah
Executive Director
JustAct - Youth Action for Global Justice
James W. Kofski, M.M.
Associate for Asia/Pacific and Middle East Issues
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Rev. Bob Edgar
General Secretary
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Sarah C. Aird
Executive Director
Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA)
Diana Bohn
Co-Coordinator
Nicaragua Center for Community Action
Kathy Hoyt
National Co-Coordinator
Nicaragua Network
Bill Towe
North Carolina Peace Action
Mary Anne Mercer
Co-chair
Northwest International Health Action Coalition
Steven Feld
Chair
Papua Resource Center
Dave Robinson
National Coordinator
Pax Christi USA
Mary F. Dworak
Coordinator
Pax Christi, Morris County (NJ)
Kevin Martin
Executive Director
Peace Action Education Fund
Carol Jahnkow
Executive Director
Peace Resource Center of San Diego
John Witeck
Coordinator
Philippine Workers Support Committee
Rev. Elenora Giddings Ivory
Director, Washington Office
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Rev. William Callahan
Co-Director
Quest for Peace/Quixote Center
Ms. Heidi McLean
Outreach Coordinator
Sacramentans for International Labor Rights
Peter J. Davies
UN Representative
Saferworld
Gail Taylor
Legislative Director
School Of the Americas Watch
Orlando Tizon, Ph.D.
Assistant Director
Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International
Lavinia Limon
Executive Director
U.S. Committee for Refugees
Wilson Powell
National Administrator
Veterans For Peace, Inc.
Melissa Jameson
Director
War Resistors League
Mike Amitay
Executive Director
Washington Kurdish Institute
John Judge
Member of the Board
Washington Peace Center
Jen Randolph Reise
Co-Director
Women Against Military Madness
Gillian Gilhool
Director, Legislative Office
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, United States
Section
William D. Hartung
Director, Arms Trade Resource Center
World Policy Institute
Munawar Laghari
Executive Director
World Sindh Institute (USA)
The Houston Chronicle
July 15, 2002
Editorial
Buying Friends: No reason for U.S. to coddle Indonesia's
army
Some Bush administration officials and members of Congress
worry that an unstable Indonesia could become a haven for al-Qaida
terrorists. Because the United States requires Indonesia's cooperation
in the war on terror, they reason, the ban against U.S. aid
to Indonesia's army should be relaxed.
The United States certainly needs the cooperation of the world's
most populous Muslim nation in the fight against terrorism falsely
perpetrated in the name of Islam. However, that is no argument
for aiding Indonesia's army.
After decades of transferring U.S. tax dollars to the armed
forces of two Indonesian dictators, the Indonesian army provoked
a massacre when East Timor residents voted for independence.
Americans wound up having to finance emergency aid and provide
logistical support to U.N. peacekeepers. Over the years the
Indonesian army has inflicted incalculable carnage on the Indonesian
people, with little indication U.S. aid bought any restraint
or affection for democracy.
The Bush administration says they want to supply the Indonesian
military and police with nonlethal "command and control"
equipment. However, senior army officers had no difficulty commanding
ethnic militias in East Timor to start the killing in an effort
to thwart independence. Once begun, the orgy of violence had
to be stopped by U.N.-sanctioned Australian troops, who had
their own command and control equipment.
Aside from an army resentful of lost power, Indonesia is plagued
by corrupt courts and police and a civilian government too weak
and indecisive to do anything about it. Strengthening the military,
however, would do nothing to strengthen the civilian government
of President Megawati Sukarnoputri and probably would kindle
support for the radical Islamists the United States most fears.
Scholars and policy analysts familiar with the region and surveyed
by the Council on Foreign Relations note that extremist religious
parties have never attracted much support in Indonesia, where
most of the diverse population lives unmolested by separatist
violence or religious conflict. The consensus favors U.S. support
for democracy and economic development, even though the elected
government has criticized U.S. military action in Afghanistan.
These are the ingredients most likely to give Indonesia - a
nation with strong business and cultural ties to Houston - the
peace and prosperity that will keep it inhospitable to terrorists.
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