Dadan Wijaksana and Musthofid, Jakarta – Legislators recommended on Monday that the Indonesian Military (TNI) maintain the nation's dignity and sovereignty by seeking other sources of military aid to end dependency on the US and to curb the resulting US interference in Indonesia's affairs.

The recommendation was made during a hearing between House Commission I on security affairs and TNI Chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto. "The TNI must start looking for other sources of military cooperation," legislator Amris Hassan of the Indonesian Democratic Party Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) said after the hearing. "Too much dependency on the US has resulted in [US] interference," he added.

Effendi Choirie, a member of the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction, concurred, citing the US demand for Indonesia's cooperation in the former's campaign against global terrorism was a form of "excessive interference" in order to guarantee military aid from the US Effendi also demanded that TNI abandon its plan to dispatch a number of Indonesian middle-ranking officers to attend short military courses in the US.

The TNI planned to send five officers to the US to undergo a 15-month training at the Naval post-graduate school in California, which was slated to begin this month. The course is a counter-terrorism fellowship program hosted by the US The legislators' call came amidst renewed pressure from a number of US congressmen for Washington to reverse a recent Senate decision to restore the International Military Education and Training (IMET) funding for Indonesia, citing continued human rights violations by the military.

The US suspended the ties with TNI in 1999 following TNI-backed violence in East Timor after the former Indonesian province voted for independence. The cooperation scheme through IMET resumed only recently when the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to provide US$400,000 to help Indonesia wage war on terrorism.

"Britain is willing to help and it does not seem to be as demanding as the US," said Effendi. Other than Britain, the legislators failed to name other countries with whom TNI could cooperate as an alternative to the US Endriartono, too, failed to present a clear-cut solution to the proposal that could mean sidelining the US When asked whether TNI needed to start forging military ties with other countries, he said diplomatically: "Working with other countries in the military field is important."

He rejected allegations that the TNI was bowing to American wishes. "We always position ourselves on the same level with those giving us aid, including in our relations with the US" "If we deem it as too domineering, we are against it," he added.

Military observer Ikrar Nusa Bhakti from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), when contacted by The Jakarta Post separately, doubted Indonesia's ability to forgo its military dependency on the US "Indonesia's military arsenals, be they light or heavy, mostly come from the US The government, during [President Megawati Soekarnoputri's] recent whirlwind tour of some countries, was seen trying to diversify the weaponry.

"The question is whether we can buy military equipment in cash. Do other countries provide credit export facilities as the US does?" said Ikrar.

While admitting that the US had been too demanding on Indonesia, Ikrar said the US attitude was understandable. "It's a logical consequence of our dependency on [Washington's] aid."