Peter Kingston – A London university research centre's controversial plan to train senior Indonesian army senior Indonesian army officers is likely to be shelved this week because of the storm of protest it provoked after it was revealed in The Guardian.

The Centre for Defence Studies (CDS) at King's College, London, is expected to suspend the deal to organise a summer school for 50 officers, entirely funded by the Indonesian government. The project, which also involved the University of Hull and the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, would have involved an annual six-week seminar in Indonesia for up to five years covering "military, defence and security issues".

Human rights activists who keep tabs on Indonesia's human rights record, particularly in East Timor, expressed dismay at the project, which was instigated by MajorGeneral Prabowo Subianto, sonin-law of President Suharto, Indonesia's ageing dictator.

Gen Prabowo heads Kopassus, the army's special forces and reputed to be the most ruthless of the special units used in counter-insurgency operations. The CDS's honorary director, Professor Lawrence Freedman, said that although he still thought the scheme "a good idea" he would not be recommending it to Thursday's meeting of the board chaired by John Garnett, professor of international relations at University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. This means effectively that it cannot go ahead this year but he was not ruling it out at some future date. He said the CDS had expected the income barely to cover estimated costs of =A3100,000 for running the course each year.

"The recommendation that we will put is that we are not ready to do this at the moment," he said. "We always recognised that to do it we would have to have some understanding and support from interested non-governmental organisations."

The centre had been impressed by a course on the laws of warfare that the International Red Cross recently launched for military officers in Indonesia. But the publicity from the article, by John Gittings, The Guardian's Asia specialist and leader writer, had "made it impossible to get any public sympathy from NGOs it just poisoned the atmosphere," he said. "The issue this raises is whether or not it is possible to talk to military officers about political, ethical as well as military issues without appearing to support the regime of which they are part."

Professor Freedman said the centre "saw an opportunity to influence Indonesian officers in useful ways by introducing them to the concepts of civilian/military relations, human rights, and democratisation. "This was presented as if we had sold our soul to the devil."

The centre's work inevitably put researchers in touch with regimes they did not necessarily care for, he said. For instance, there had been projects with the former USSR and South Africa before the elections. "Our view is that as long as we are in control of what we are saying, we'll keep on talking." The project's executive director, Chris Smith, had earlier told The Guardian that CDS had "full control" over the curriculum, which would include courses on human rights, international law, contemporary security and South-east Asian issues.

Gen Prabowo, who discussed the project during a private visit to Britain late last year, played an influential role in last year's army-inspired crackdown on the Democratic Party of Indonesia.

Ms Carmel Budiardjo, founder of Tapol, the London-based Indonesian human rights campaign, had described the project as "a new example of the cosy arrangement between the British Government and the Indonesian armed forces". This was utterly rejected by Professor Freedman, who said: "Decisions on the project were entirely our own."

Mr Gittings said: "The fact that the initiative came not just from the Indonesian armed forces but from the son-in-law of President Suharto and commander of the 'red berets' should have set alarm bells ringing from the start.

"Of course they would be happy to consent to a few lectures on human rights for window~dressing... King's College hoped to exert a 'positive influence' on the generals, but they would have used the project to learn how to present a better image abroad.

"There was also the amazing requirement that all communication between the British academics and the Indonesian generals should be channeled through the British defence attache in Jakarta. "It's excellent news if the Centre for Defence Studies has now realised what a dubious idea it is to run courses for killers."

[Note: Opposition to this project exploded, coming from all directions, professors, staff as well as students, the campus branch of the trade union, Unison, the London Students Union, from a number of branches of the Association of University Teachers, and from MPs in the House of Commons. Students in Hull have also raised the issue there. This is symptomatic of a change in attitudes towards Indonesia, a growing awareness in the UK of the true nature of the regime. Jakarta may see this as a campaign 'masterminded' by TAPOL. In fact, there was little for us to do, except for providing information. The thing just took off and created its own momentum.]