Washington – The State Department's top Asia hand is due in Jakarta this weekend in the latest sign of a new US drive to engage Indonesia – but the path to closer US relations with Southeast Asia's dominant power is fraught with controversy.

James Kelly, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs will be the second senior US official to travel to Jakarta in a matter of weeks – Trade Representative Robert Zoellick stopped by several weeks ago.

Both trips are laying groundwork for new President Megawati Sukarnoputri's White House talks with President George W. Bush next month – another sign of Washington's desire to quickly forge links with the new government in Jakarta.

But while US politicians from all sides want to engage Indonesia – where and how contact should take place is the subject of fierce debate.

Megawati's visit looms as a campaign gathers pace for a renewal of US military links with Indonesia, which the smart money says is emanating from the Pentagon.

Most US military contacts were cut when Indonesian troops were implicated in the bloody militia rampage ignited by East Timor's vote for independence two years ago.

Zoellick told Megawati that some "basic" ties could be restored: some analysts say a strategic dialogue with leading generals could be a starting point.

But even limited military-to-military contacts, with generals tainted with human rights questions, will be controversial, particularly in Congress. "There is a certain amount, not of making a deal with the devil, but having dinner with the devil," said Southeast Asia analyst Dana Dillon of the Heritage Foundation, a think-tank with close ties to the Bush administration.

Dillon argues that US aid for military training programs should be withheld until members of Indonesia's armed forces implicated in human rights abuses face justice. But he says discussions with generals on regional issues should be resumed – as they enhance US security and foreign policy goals.

"As long as it is in direct US interests it should be permitted and encouraged." Congressional sources say administration officials have already held discreet consultations on Capitol Hill on just how much political latitude there is for a resumption of some military ties. The issue is likely to build up a head of steam when Senators and Representatives return from their summer break next week.

But rights campaigners have responded to the administration's soundings by stepping up their own activity. Jon Miller of the US-based East Timor Action network took aim at what he said was a "full force lobbying campaign" by Bush aides.

"The administration wants to see how far it can go without causing a full reaction from Congress," he said. "But there is no indication that the Indonesian military is tempering its behavior."

Indonesian soldiers have been recently accused of fomenting civil strife in Aceh and other areas, and there is private concern among US officials over the still overt influence of the military in domestic politics and its power over Megawati.

Whether military links are renewed or not, solid diplomatic realities underline the US desire to engage Jakarta. Policymakers here remain deeply concerned about instability spawned by secessionist and ethnic conflicts across Indonesia – not to mention the fragile state of the country's fledgling democracy, and crisis-shackled economy.

But US economic aid would likely be unpopular domestically and critics say could simply bolster failing institutions and deter Indonesia from carrying out badly needed reforms.

For years Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation has been the most powerful voice in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The United States wants ASEAN to eventually emerge as a democratic-oriented grouping, more weighty than its current incarnation which critics scoff is merely a talking shop handicapped by a need to pander to sensitivities of members like Myanmar and Vietnam.

If Indonesia develops into a largely functional democracy backing open markets, in common with Thailand and the Philippines, ASEAN would likely follow the same road.

Washington is also closely watching China's accelerating diplomacy in Southeast Asia and is alarmed at the possible threat to regional stability of cracks in Indonesia's unity.