Sue Pleming, Jakarta – The United States and Indonesia are seeking closer military ties after years of limited contact because of concern over past human rights abuses by Indonesia's army, top defence officials from both nations said on Sunday.

US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, on a visit to Indonesia after last month's devastating tsunami, said he would consult with his government and Congress over whether the time was right to increase contact and ease restrictions on the sale of military equipment.

Pressed on whether he believed there had been enough progress on the Indonesian military's human rights record for all sanctions to be lifted, Wolfowitz told reporters: "I will save my recommendations until I get home."

A US defence official travelling with Wolfowitz conceded it would be a tough fight to persuade Congress to budge on the issue but said the Bush administration felt the time was right to work more closely with Indonesia on defence issues.

Wolfowitz, who was ambassador to Indonesia in the late 1980s, said he recognised why restrictions were first imposed but he had been impressed by recent military reforms.

"You can't take a one dimensional approach on this issue," he said. "If we are interested in military reform, I think we need to reconsider a bit on where we are in history at this point."

Most US sales of military-related equipment have been on hold since Indonesian soldiers and the militia they backed in East Timor were accused of human rights violations. Any major change to this policy needs approval by the US Congress.

Waiver after tsunami

An exception was made after the tsunami when Washington granted a waiver and allowed the sale of spare parts for C-130 military aircraft being used to get humanitarian aid to victims.

The two countries now want to capitalise on goodwill built after the US military quickly responded and provided much-needed helicopters to ferry aid.

Wolfowitz said the tsunami, which killed more than 110,000 people in Indonesia and left many thousands homeless, had been "a calamity of indescribable proportions" and the United States would continue to help as long as needed.

On Saturday, Wolfowitz flew over parts of Aceh province on the tip of Sumatra island, where most victims died. "This is a whole community in a state of shock and when you fly over that devastation you can just barely conceive what it was like and what a terrible end it must have been for over 100,000 people," he said.

Indonesian Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono told an earlier joint news conference he was working hard to reform the military despite having a limited annual budget of just $1.1 billion. "We look forward to improving our military-to-military relations in the next couple of years," said Sudarsono.

Sudarsono said it was hard to improve the public image of the military, adding he had been forced to take out a full-page advertisement in newspapers to thank the military for its efforts in helping victims in Aceh.

He stressed the Indonesian government did not wish to set a time limit on how long foreign troops were welcome to stay in Indonesia to help with relief efforts. Last week Vice President Jusuf Kalla set a March 26 deadline for them to leave.

"It is a benchmark for the Indonesian government to improve and accelerate relief efforts so that by March 26th the large part of the burden of the relief effort will be carried by the Indonesian government," said Sudarsono.

On Monday, Wolfowitz is set to visit Sri Lanka where more than 30,000 people died in the tsunami.