In a widely anticipated move, the US government eventually lifted the 13-year-old ban on Indonesian Army's Special Forces' (Kopassus) participation in any joint Indonesia-US military activities. The decision to resume relations with Kopassus was proclaimed by visiting US Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates on Thursday amid uncertainty on President Barack Obama's Indonesian visit after it was canceled twice this year.
Yes, the restoration of cooperation with Kopassus, initiated during the preceding Bush administration, was not personally announced by Obama, as previously expected during his two canceled visits here.
However, the announcement made by the defense secretary did not lessen the significance of the US government's policy to lift the ban and should be highly commended as it signaled a completely restored bilateral US-Indonesia relation.
The ban on cooperation with Kopassus was one of the two key obstacles in US-Indonesia military relations as a result of allegedly repeated human rights abuses by the Indonesian Military (TNI) in the past – particularly during Soeharto's New Order administration. The other, on the US ban on military equipment sales to Indonesia, was lifted in 2005.
To the agreement of many, the decision to lift the bans on Kopassus and the military sales to Indonesia, were not a one-size-fits-all policy of the US government.
As secretary Gates has stated: "This initial step will take place within the limit of US law and does not signal any lessening of the importance we place on human rights and accountability," the policy is obviously subject to further examination and review, if the Indonesian military violate human rights principles in the future.
The US government's precautionary move at the same time signals the necessity for the Indonesian side to improve its monitoring mechanism and justice system – both the civilian court and military tribunal – against alleged wrongdoings committed by military personnel.
It is true that several cases of human rights violation had been tried in the military tribunal, but the verdicts issued had been far from the Indonesian peoples' expectation, while the tribunal had failed to try the most responsible persons in the cases.
To a certain extent, the US government's "conditional" decision to lift the bans could be understood as dictating Indonesia's internal affairs. But, rather than politicizing the US government's decision, let's put the issue on the US government's and peoples' perspective.
Isn't it logical for the US government to demand such accountability from the Indonesian side, as any resumption of military cooperation with Indonesia would involve US funds that originate from none other than American taxpayers' money?
After all, such conditional restoration of military ties with Indonesia will be fruitful for smooth democratization in Indonesia as it will undoubtedly help prevent the repetition of past human rights abuses in the future. Otherwise, we all will sing the same old story again without significant efforts to put it to a complete halt.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, as head of state and the supreme commander of the Indonesian military, has guaranteed that there would be no more rights abuses by the TNI in the future, and that he would take the lead in continuing reforms in the TNI.
Such a commitment needs the support of all the country's stakeholders, and most importantly the military organization itself.