DATE=9/14/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA - U-S MILITARY (L)
NUMBER=2-253875
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=PENTAGON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The U-S House of Representatives has voted
overwhelmingly (419 to zero) to send a strong critical
message to Indonesia's military -- and to the Pentagon
Tuesday. The House wants to put even tighter
restrictions on contacts between the U-S Military and
Indonesian Armed Forces -- after some of Jakarta's
troops attacked civilians in East Timor. V-O-A's Jim
Randle reports from the Pentagon, where officials say
Congress is drawing the wrong lessons from strife in
East Timor.
Text: The United States has spent millions of dollars
over many years to train key members of Indonesia's
armed forces in a variety of military skills.
Pentagon officials say the programs were supposed to
make the Indonesian soldiers more sensitive to human
rights concerns, among other things.
Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts says
Indonesian troops showed the program to be a failure
when they took part in East Timor's violence instead
of stopping the killings and burnings by militia
groups.
/// FRANK ACT ///
But the argument they (Pentagon officials) give
us, that when they have relations with brutal
and repressive regimes, they are doing it to
civilize the military of those regimes, they are
doing it to turn the militaries of those regimes
into relative peace corps. They do not tell the
truth. Indonesia was one of their best examples
of how this relationship was encouraging a more
civilized military. And no military in recent
history has behaved in more brutal and less
civilized fashion.
/// END ACT ///
The once-extensive military-to-military training
programs between Washington and Jakarta have been cut
back several times in recent years in response to
Congressional concerns about human rights abuses in
Indonesia. The few remaining programs were
"suspended" last Thursday by President Clinton.
California Democrat Nancy Pelosi led Tuesday's effort
to make sure that if the Pentagon ever renews ties
with Jakarta, the classes are limited to lectures on
human rights and similar topics. Previous classes for
Indonesian troops included instruction on mortar
attacks, sniper techniques, and `internal defense.'
/// OPT /// The vote instructs House members serving
on a committee resolving legislative differences
between House and Senate versions of bills funding
foreign military training to resist Senate efforts to
lessen restrictions on training for Indonesia. /// END
OPT ///
But Pentagon spokesman Craig Quigley says the program
might have more influence in Indonesia if there were
fewer Congressional restrictions.
He says military to military contacts build crucial
relationships that are helpful when a crisis erupts.
/// QUIGLEY ACT ///
Human beings react well to faces that they have
seen before. People with whom they have had a
conversation before. The old cliche about an
emergency or a crisis is not the best time to
place the first phone call to a person with whom
you've never had any relationship is absolutely
true.
/// END ACT ///
The top U-S General, Hugh Shelton, called Indonesia's
top officer, General Wiranto several times by phone in
the past week, warning him Jakarta would have to
restore order or lose international military and
economic aid. General Wiranto eventually agreed to
allow an international peacekeeping force to enter the
troubled territory of East Timor. Pentagon officials
say the Timor crisis shows the success of the U-S
Military's outreach efforts, not their failure.
(Signed).
NEB/JR/TVM/JO
14-Sep-1999 17:47 PM EDT (14-Sep-1999 2147 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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