In light of President Bush’s current visit to Indonesia. “Military Cooperation Grows as U.S. Concerns on Rights Issues Recede.” Special article by Joe Cochrane to The Washington Post.
In the run-up to President Bush’s visit to Indonesia this week, two dozen members of a fundamentalist Islamic group raided and occupied a historic botanical garden in the mountain town of Bogor, outside Jakarta. Their target was the site where a construction crew was building a landing pad for Bush’s helicopter. Their message was simple: Bush was not welcome in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.
Within 30 minutes, hammers were pounding again and the cement mixer had resumed turning, but as a media event, the gimmick briefly worked. Other, little-known Muslim groups began protesting Bush’s visit and were given blanket coverage by local news outlets. Senior members of Indonesia’s parliament accused Bush of slaughtering Muslims worldwide and claimed his half-day visit to Bogor was part of a plot to control Indonesia’s economy.
The Jakarta government barely responded to the protests, and didn’t need to. Relations between Indonesia and the United States are their warmest in decades, evidenced by the growing friendship between Bush and his counterpart, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
“They are just making noises playing to the gallery,” Juwono Sudarsono, the Indonesian defense minister, said of the protesters. “Anti-Americanism is a high-tech industry.”
Although the Indonesian government and most of the country’s 230 million people are against the U.S. presence in Iraq, many are thrilled that Bush is coming to talk about American funding for education, anti-poverty and anti-corruption programs.
And in a marked turnaround in the relationship, the two countries have grown closer because of common military and security concerns, issues that Indonesian officials say are not on the official agenda for Bush’s brief visit.
The Indonesian armed forces, known as the TNI, have long been seen as the only institution capable of preventing the country of 7,000 disparate islands from fragmenting along geographical and ethnic lines. But the United States had imposed sanctions on the military for most of the 1990s because of repeated reports of human rights violations, including rapes, kidnappings, murders of political activists and the widespread killing of civilians in such outlying provinces as Aceh and Papua.
The United States severed most ties with the Indonesian military after its rampage in the territory of East Timor in 1999. To date, no senior officer has been held accountable for any crimes. In 2002, East Timor was internationally recognized as an independent state.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, U.S. officials publicly criticized then-President Megawati Sukarnoputri for not doing enough to combat terrorism and for not arresting militants allegedly linked to al-Qaeda.
The Bush administration informed Congress early last year that it was fully restoring military training programs with Indonesia. Last November, the White House lifted a ban on selling military hardware to the TNI despite concerns from some lawmakers and outrage from Indonesian human rights activists and victim-advocacy groups.
The two countries now conduct joint military exercises and closely cooperate on counterterrorism. This month, an advance team of Indonesian soldiers arrived in Beirut aboard a U.S. military transport plane to join a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.
“In the post-9/11 era, many people recognized that Indonesia is important not only because of its geographically strategic importance, but its position in the Islamic world,” said Paul Rowland, director of the National Democratic Institute in Jakarta, a U.S.-funded democracy-building organization. “Plus, there’s a huge acceptance and support of democracy here.”
After the confrontation between the United States and Indonesia in the 1990s over human rights, the Bush administration opted for a pragmatic approach. It saw Indonesia as an example of a country trying to move toward democracy after decades of authoritarianism under strongman Suharto, who ruled from 1966 to 1998.
And there were fears the country could break apart amid widespread religious and ethnic violence, terrorist attacks and a prolonged economic crisis.
Sudarsono, the defense minister, said in an interview that the U.S. ban on weapons sales and training programs for Indonesian military officers was counterproductive “not only for the development of the TNI, but it went against the grain of helping the only institution capable of holding the country together.”
“The Americans see that they need the military in the fight against terrorism,” said Jusuf Wanandi, chairman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta. “Secondly, this has been the group they trusted for so long during the Suharto time because they’re anti-communist and anti-China.”
The restoration of ties was welcomed by reformers among former and current top Indonesian officers, who have said sanctions played into the hands of army officers who wanted the military to continue playing a leading role in politics as they did during Suharto’s “New Order” regime.
“The gap of several years created the perception that we didn’t need foreign military education,” said Agus Widjojo, a retired army general, “and that such foreign programs only spurred reform ideas rather than traditional military thoughts.”
The Indonesian military has taken some reform initiatives since the 1999 East Timor crisis, including giving up its appointed seats in parliament, selling off its business interests and putting its chain of command under a civilian defense minister. These moves won over skeptics in the U.S. Congress, which also has followed the White House in taking a softer approach toward the Indonesian military.
But analysts and some retired generals said they feared the reform drive had stalled. More input is needed now from political leaders, they said, but the country’s party leadership is still too weak to confront obstructionist generals in the ranks.***
Pak Juwono,
Apart from what is being publicized in the media about Bush’ public agenda in Indonesia, What do you personally think about the relationship between Bush and Exxon Mobil’s interest in Natuna deal?
I know you are a trained diplomat but I’d be great if you choose not to exhibit political correctness in this wonderful blog of yours 🙂 Simply, we want to hear what you believe in.
Bests,
Indi Soemardjan
Pak Juwono,
I don’t know if you are aware of a recent show aired in CNN titled “The Extremist Agenda: Exposed” from Glen Beck Show in CNN:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PWIK8YTZS8
You can also read the transcript here:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0611/15/gb.01.html
The show is not politically correct as the host has admitted. It might be overblown and skewed by his own bias, but some of the facts cannot be denied: there are people who are propagating irrational hate and rage. Personally, I feel that this brings new lights into the conflicts of the Middle East vs. Israel and/or US and its allies.
The Indonesian military was criticized in the U.S. news media at the time of East Timor’s independence. Now the U.S. military faces continuing allegations of human rights violations and atrocities. One hears more and more often in the U.S.A. that the Iraq invasion was an act of unprovoked aggression.
There is a precedent for renewed U.S. military cooperation with Indonesia. My country imposed military sanctions on Pakistan because of Pakistan’s nuclear arms program, but that changed with 9/11 and the War on Terror. Now Pakistan is our friend and ally.
I suspect that President Bush’s recent trip to Indonesia was motivated in part by the desire to get Indonesian troops sent to Iraq. Perhaps Indonesia will consider such an option in the context of a comprehensive peace settlement. It would seem that if we want peace in Iraq, then (1) the U.S. government will have to begin talking to Iraq’s neighbors Syria and Iran; and (2) the U.S. will have to pressure Israel to make concessions necessary for a lasting peace settlement with the Palestinians.
under the bush’s administration, US popularity plumeted to all time low. Bush using the war on terror as a shield to finish what his father didnt manage todo. That is to occupying Iraq and to cannel as much oil as posible to feed the american hunger.
as the relation with Indonesia, the US has been and will always use Indonesia as their chess board in international political manouvre. unless Indonesian people specialy their leader changing their mind set into selfrelian specialy in economic and defence related matter.
US has been supporting Indonesia in Papua integration mainly of the richness of Indonesia in natural resources.
US supported Indonesia invasion to east timor based on the threat of communism.
US supported the dictator soeharto rezim to keep China and Rusia communism at bay.
Then since the East Timor insident in 99, the US has withdraw their support to Indonesia thus embargoed the Indonesian armed forces becaused of international pressure.
Since bush administration, specifically after the 9/11 the US realised that Indonesia has turned to Rusia and China for their defence cooperation as almost all 80 persen of US made war machines become absolete.
The US has realise that malacca strait is one of the busiest in the world which is 2/3 of it on the Indonesian side.
In a desperate attempt to win back Indonesian heart to suport the US policy, the Bush administration has lifted totaly the armed embargo, reinstall IMET, and other military to military cooperation
I do hope in the end that the Indonesian govt foreign policy remain BEBAS AKTIF, and continue to seek cooperation from other countries specialy India, Rusia,China and EU member of states in defence and economic.
Off course without neglecting our very own defence industries such as PT DI,PAL,PINDAD,LEN etc..
The US international policy has won her a lot of new enemies specialy in the South America and the midle east. hopefully our foreign policy will be able to win Indonesia many friends in international stage.
There was no pressure on Natuna during President Bush’s visit. Emphasis was on science & technology, education, health and post disaster management.
President Yudhoyono tabled a three-track recommendation on Iraq:
1. National reconciliation among all Iraqi factions;
2. Mid-East regional conference on Iraqi stability, with Iran and Syria central to the process;
3. International involvement including UN participation and possible Indonesian troop contribution through UN Security Council decision.
I am encouraged to know that Indonesia recognizes the importance of Iran to peace in the Middle East. This is clearly a point of difference with the U.S. government, as reported from Saudi Arabia: “The essential message delivered to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah by Vice President Cheney was that there is no basis for dialogue with Iran.
The U.S. position in the region has been weakened, and therefore a new security architecture must be established, particularly in the Persian Gulf, to contain and counter Iran’s growing influence…Cheney argued that to negotiate with Iran at this time would be tantamount to surrender.” See http://www.larouchepub.com/pr/2006/061127cheney_riyadh.html