Media release *** Media release *** Media release *** Media release
24 October 2002
Bali terror: Indonesian military ties NOT the answer!
Speakout against war & military ties with Indonesia:
Friday, 25 October, 4.00pm, outside the Sydney Town Hall.
Organised by ASAP.
Endorsed by Australia-Aceh Association, Australia-West Papua
Association, PNG Solidarity Action, Resistance socialist youth,
Bougainville Freedom Movement, Indonesia Solidarity Group
“Resuming military ties with Indonesia’s notorious Kopassus special
forces is not the answer to terrorism”, said Max Lane, chairperson of
Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (ASAP).
Past US and Australian training have made no difference to Kopassus’s
behaviour. SBS Dateline reported on October 23 that one of the 12
Kopassus soldiers involved in the murder of West Papuan leader Theys
Eluay had completed an officer training course here in Australia.
Speaking from Jakarta, Lane observed: “Even former foreign minister
Gareth Evans admitted in the International Herald Tribune on July 24
last year ‘...that many of our earlier training efforts helped only to
produce more professional human rights abusers’
“Such a resumption of ties will only legitimise Indonesian
state-sponsored terrorism. It will contribute to a worsening of
political violence throughout the Indonesian archipelago.”
Lane continued: “On the contrary, Australia must overhaul its relations
with Indonesia. This should begin by ending all ties with the
discredited military — our government must stop seeing the TNI as the
solution to Indonesia’s problems.
“The chronic crisis and instability in Indonesia is the product of
rampant free market policies imposed on such a poor country. Some 3
million people live on less than $2 a day. Its debt burden is beyond
Indonesia’s capacity to pay.
“On top of that, the military fans local conflict for its extensive
business rackets. This was seen during the recent Freeport killings in
West Papua, with the credible possibility the TNI was trying to force
the mine to resume its protection pay-offs.
“Our government must stop colluding with Indonesia’s corrupt elites and
military. In fact, it should be assisting the very people and
organisations that Kopassus deems its enemies — the movements for
independence in Aceh and West Papua, and those campaigning for genuine
democracy and economic justice for the majority of Indonesians.
Australia must push to halt IMF-World Bank restructuring of the
Indonesian economy.
“Only by these steps can we guarantee lasting stability and peace with
justice in the Indonesian archipelago.”
FOR FURTHER COMMENT:
Max Lane (in Indonesia) +62 812 868 4805,
Iggy Kim 0421 322 175, Pip Hinman 0412 139 968
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