Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Despite claims from the Armed Forces that the United States would soon lift its ban on full military cooperation with Indonesia, a senior White House official appears to have killed such hopes.

Jeffrey Bader, US President Barack Obama's senior director for Asian affairs, said on Monday that while it would be "good if we could move to full cooperation," including counterterrorism activities with the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus), there was no timetable for any such plans.

"There is a certain history that needs to be overcome. There were human rights violations in the 1990s in the former East Timor," Badar told journalists in Washington during a briefing on Monday about Obama's upcoming visit to Indonesia.

"We hope to be able at some point to move past and resolve those concerns, [but] I can't predict at this point when that day might arrive."

Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) Chief Gen. Djoko Santoso said on Monday that he believed the ban would likely be lifted after the US government agreed to a proposal of military-to-military training involving the Kopassus anti-terror unit, Densus 81, which was barred from receiving any US assistance 12 years ago.

"We are in the middle of processing the [joint training] plan," Djoko told journalists. "So maybe the training will be conducted starting next year."

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa also held talks on Monday with Kurt Campbell, the visiting US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, and expressed hope that full military cooperation between the two countries could resume.

"I informed [Campbell] that the reform of the Indonesian military institution is a fact that is indisputable, is a fact of life. Now it depends on how the US responds," Natalegawa told reporters after the meeting.

The issue is likely to feature in talks between Obama and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono next week, when Obama makes his first trip as the US president to the country where he spent part of his childhood.

Natalegawa said that while Indonesia wanted the United States to reconsider resuming joint military training, Jakarta would not pressure Washington. "We will not force it because we do not want any form of cooperation that seems to be conditional," he said.

The Kopassus unit was banned from receiving US military education or training following allegations of its alleged involvement in a number of human rights abuses in Indonesia.

The Leahy Law stipulates that the US government must not train foreign military units with histories of human rights violations unless the government takes adequate legal steps to deal with the officers allegedly involved in the abuses.

The United States lifted a comprehensive ban on training the Indonesian military in 2005, though it kept the restrictions against Kopassus. Recommencing the provision of military training to Kopassus was proposed by the Bush administration in 2008.

The Washington Post reported that the Obama administration was likely to follow up on the proposal, although it said there was some opposition to the new policy from the president's own party.

Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont and the main sponsor of the law that bears his name, reportedly said the Indonesian government was still required to put measures into effect to bring Kopassus members to justice for past abuses.

Human Rights Watch has urged the US government to rethink the plan to lift the ban. In letters to the US government, the nongovernmental group said military officials had not been held responsible for human rights abuses during the 24 years that Indonesia occupied East Timor, including the 1992 Santa Cruz massacre.

It also said the appointment of Lt. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin as deputy defense minister was a cause for concern because of his alleged involvement in the "disappearance" of student activists in 1997 and 1998, and violations during the 1999 East Timor independence referendum.

The US government has placed a travel ban on Sjafrie and other Kopassus generals.

Last week, rumors spread that the US government had lifted the travel ban on Sjafrie, which was thought to be a clear sign of a change in its stance over its relationship with Kopassus. But Sjafrie told the Jakarta Globe that he had not received any notification from the US government on the travel ban.

The Indonesian military has previously said that all alleged past human rights allegations have been settled. "And the House of Representatives has also issued a decision that, while the 1998 unrest was a national tragedy, no human rights violation occurred in the incident," said a military spokesman, Air Vice Marshal Sagom Tamboen.

[Additional reporting from AP, AFP.]