Jakarta – The armed forces Monday welcomed a move by the US Congress to reinstate military ties with Indonesia, but human rights groups are calling it an endorsement of an abusive and undemocratic institution.

"This is a very dangerous move," said Munir, the founder of Kontras, Indonesia's most prominent human rights organization. "The [Indonesian] military badly needs this endorsement from the United States in order to further legitimize its meddling in politics [and] human rights violations," said Munir, who uses a single name.

On Friday, the US Senate's appropriations committee passed an amendment to lift restrictions on participation by the Indonesian military in the Pentagon's International Military Education and Training program, known as IMET.

Although the bill still has a long way to go in Congress before becoming law, the prospect of resuming ties has alarmed human rights groups who see the military as the main obstacle to democratic reforms in Indonesia after more than three decades of army-backed dictatorship.

Existing legislation prohibits US military assistance to the Indonesian military to punish it for its role in the devastation of East Timor after its residents voted for independence in a UN-supervised referendum in 1999.

The current law – called the Leahy Amendment for Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who sponsored it – requires that Jakarta cooperate with investigations and prosecutions of members of the armed forces responsible for human rights abuses in East Timor and the restive provinces of Aceh, Maluku and West Papua. Human rights groups said that condition hasn't been met.

Brigadier General Tono Suratman, an armed forces spokesman, welcomed the appropriations panel's decision, saying the resumption of military-to-military ties would help Indonesia and the US coordinate their efforts in the war on terrorism. "In this ... we must be able to share information, exchange experiences in combatting terrorists and train our anti-terrorist units and command staffs," he said. Suratman, a former military commander in East Timor, is one of 18 military and government officials indicted for the violence that left hundreds of civilians dead in the former Indonesian territory.

Rights groups have sharply criticized what they said is a recent push by the Bush administration – spearheaded by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, a former ambassador to Jakarta – to reestablish relations with the Indonesian military.

Wolfowitz contends that restarting ties will help the Indonesian military reform itself and help it understand the concept of civilian control over the military.

The army, which was the power behind the brutal 32-year dictatorship of former President Suharto, traditionally relied on the US as its main source of weapons and training.

Under Suharto, the generals exerted tight control, repressing opposition. They lost power after Suharto was deposed in 1998, but regained clout under Megawati Sukarnoputri, who became president in July.

Since then, non-governmental organizations have denounced the security forces for resuming a bloody crackdown against separatist rebels in Aceh province – which they said has killed hundreds of civilians – and for killing a prominent political leader in West Papua province.

"The senators who voted to restore full IMET have effectively given US backing to continued gross violations of human rights," said John M. Miller, spokesman for the New York-based East Timor Action Network. "In the name of the 'war on terrorism,' the Senate committee will only promote the continued terrorization of the Indonesian people by its military," he said in a statement.