http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/10/11/indone11859.htm
Indonesia: Keep Pressure on Abusive Army
U.S. Should Maintain Conditions on Assistance to Indonesian Military
(Washington, October 11, 2005)-Indonesia's failure to reform its abusive
military makes it essential for the U.S. Congress to maintain its restrictions
on U.S. military assistance, Human Rights Watch said today. This week,
House-Senate conferees are meeting to reconcile the annual Foreign Operations
Appropriations bill and to decide whether restrictions on military aid to
Indonesia should remain in place.
Because President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was elected
democratically, many now wrongly believe that Indonesia's military has been
reformed. But it continues to be responsible for routine abuses, has failed to
address past crimes and remains beyond effective civilian control.
Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
Because of the Indonesian military's long record of abuse in places such as
East Timor, Aceh and Papua, Congress in 2000 placed conditions on the Foreign
Military Financing (FMF) assistance package to the Indonesian military. In
fiscal year 2005, the conditions included requirements that the Indonesian
government:
a.. prosecute and punish members of the armed forces who have been credibly
alleged to have committed gross violations of human rights or to have aided or
abetted militia groups;
b.. ensure cooperation by the armed forces with civilian judicial authorities
and with international efforts to resolve cases of gross violations of human
rights in East Timor and elsewhere; and
c.. implement reforms to increase the transparency and accountability of
military operations and financial management, including making publicly
available audits of receipts and expenditures.
"Because President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was elected democratically, many
now wrongly believe that Indonesia's military has been reformed," said Brad
Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "But it continues to be responsible
for routine abuses, has failed to address past crimes and remains beyond
effective civilian control."
Indonesian military officers and soldiers who commit human rights violations
remain largely beyond the reach of the law. No senior Indonesian officer has
been held to account for war crimes and crimes against humanity in East Timor
in 1999 or other serious violations elsewhere in the archipelago. In July, an
appeals court overturned all convictions in the first test-case of
accountability for Suharto-era crimes, the 1984 Tanjung Priok massacre that
left at least 33 civilians dead. The civilian defense minister still does not
have the ability to appoint, discipline or remove officers.
Human Rights Watch called on the conferees to adopt the Senate's language for
the Fiscal Year 2006 bill, which tracks most of the conditions from last year,
and adds important reporting requirements to monitor credible progress on the
human rights situation in Papua and Aceh, crucial to informing policymaking on
Indonesia. Another Senate provision, Report on Indonesian Cooperation, section
6108, also requires a detailed report prior to the release of International
Military Education and Training (IMET) for Indonesia from the Secretary of
State on U.S. and Indonesian efforts to bring to justice those responsible for
the ambush and murder of two U.S. citizens and an Indonesian in Papua in August
2002.
Human Rights Watch expressed concern over recent statements by Indonesian
President Yudhoyono and army chief General Endriartono Sutarto calling for the
reinvigoration of the territorial command structure. The territorial command
structure has, in effect, made the army an occupying force instead of focusing
on national defense. Public opinion surveys in Indonesia have shown that it is
deeply unpopular. Efforts to reinforce the territorial command structure serve
as an alarming reminder of the failure to implement serious and structural
military reform.
Human Rights Watch also voiced concern over the largely unaddressed issue of
the military's continued control of a vast network of legal and illegal
businesses. While Indonesian legislation in 2004 requires all such business
interests be divested by 2009, there are widespread doubts in Indonesia that
this will happen. There are also fears that, if it does happen, the businesses
might simply be transferred to entities controlled by senior military figures.
Fanning fears of corruption, the military recently sold off shares in its
private companies without notifying the authorities responsible for overseeing
the transfer of military businesses. Human Rights Watch noted that financial
transparency of the military's budget, as called for in the U.S. Senate
proposal, must form the backbone of any serious reform effort.
Human Rights Watch also cautioned against a simplistic response to the recent
October 1, 2005 Bali bombings and other bombings in the past three years in
Indonesia. Counter-terror cooperation does not justify resumption of Foreign
Military Financing and export of lethal equipment. The police, long
marginalized by the military, remain the key actor in counter-terror efforts.
It was the police who successfully investigated the perpetrators of the October
2002 Bali bombing and other attacks. The U.S. already has numerous options
available to engage with the Indonesian government, including the military, on
counterterrorism.
"This is the wrong time to let up the pressure on the Indonesian military,"
said Adams. "Now is the time to insist that it ends abuses against civilians,
phases out the territorial structure and ends its corrupt business practices."
Supporters of military aid argue that with direct elections of the president in
2004, the stated commitment of President Yudhoyono and Defense Minister Juwono
Sudarsono to reform, and the recent peace agreement in Aceh, the problems are
being solved. Yet when pressed, advocates of military aid are unable to
articulate how the widely recognized systemic problem of abuse is being
addressed.
"Even supporters of the Indonesian military should realize that holding out the
carrot of military assistance is the best way to help with military reform,"
said Adams. "Continued restrictions are needed to encourage structural and
financial reform and accountability for serious human rights violations."
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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