Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urged the US Congress to ease restrictions on military relations with Indonesia, saying Jakarta was dealing with past human rights violations "in an orderly, democratic way."

Rumsfeld spoke after meeting at the Pentagon with Indonesian Defense Minister Matori Abdul Jalil, who said he was in Washington to make the case for restoring military ties curtailed in the wake of Indonesian military atrocties in East Timor in 1999.

"The president, the secretary of state and I have all been interested in finding ways to work with Congress to reestablish the kind of military to military relationship that we believe are appropriate," Rumsfeld said. "We are hopeful that we will be able to find support in the Congress to move in the correct direction," he told reporters.

The State Department has requested 16 million dollars for Indonesia in a 2002 supplemental appropriations request before Congress. Eight million dollars would go for a rapid reaction peacekeeping force to deal with trouble in Indonesia's far-flung provinces. Another eight million would go to train the national police in counter-terrorism.

The Pentagon also has requested an additional 17.9 million dollars for a regional defense counter-terrorism fellowship program, which could include Indonesian military officers if Congress gives the go ahead.

The Pentagon has had no military training or foreign military sales programs with Indonesia since 1999 when Congress passed an amendment barring funding for those activities until Indonesia accounted for its military's role in the East Timor killings.

Since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Rumsfeld and others in Pentagon have lamented the absence of military ties with the world's most populous Muslim nation and a potential haven for operatives of suspected terror mastermind Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Ten Indonesian army officers are currently on trial by Indonesia's first human rights courts for rights abuses, but so far no military officer has been punished over East Timor.

Jalil, speaking through an interpreter, said that his government could not intervene in the legal process "but continues to encourage the court to have a fair trial." He said both the government and the military were committed to reforms aimed at creating a professional military under civilian control. He also reaffirmed Jakarta's commitment to cooperate in the US war on terrorism, but said his government did not want US military trainers to come to Indonesia as they have to the Philippines, Georgia and Yemen.

"That is not our foreign policy, and we remain confident in the ability of our national police and the military to deal with these affairs," he said.

Rumsfeld said he was hopeful that the steps taken by Indonesia on human rights and other issues of concern will help persuade Congress to ease the restrictions.

"We are of the view that it is time for them to be adjusted substantially," he said. "The argument that we'll make to the Hill is that Indonesia is an important country, it is a large country, it is a moderate Muslim state, that they are addressing the human rights issues in an orderly democratic way," he said.