Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – One of the deputy chairmen of House of Representatives Commission I on Defense and Foreign Affairs criticized United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' recent statement on military cooperation between Indonesia and the US.

"Robert Gates' statement on July 22 in Jakarta about past human rights abuses conducted by the Indonesian Military (TNI), and to link that statement with military aids, is no longer relevant and has the tendency to be bossy," Tubagus Hasanuddin from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

"We respect the US secretary of defense's statement as inputs, however, as a dignified nation, we want to stress that we are not going to rely on anyone for joint cooperation," he added.

The US had officially lifted its ban on the participation of the Indonesian Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) in any joint Indonesia-US military activities.

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who made a short visit to Indonesia, said after meeting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday that the US government had done so following improvements in human rights and defense reforms in Indonesia, a view echoed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The ban on Kopassus was part of a US military embargo, in addition to a ban on military equipment sales to Indonesia.

The embargo was imposed more than a decade ago in response to repeated human rights abuses committed by Kopassus in West Papua and Timor Leste (then East Timor).