Jakarta – Human rights groups reacted angrily Friday to a US Senate decision not to block military ties with Indonesia over reports that army troops killed two American schoolteachers in Papua province.

"The problem is that the Republicans don't care about human rights," said Asmara Nababan, a leading Indonesian rights activist.

On Thursday, the Senate voted 61-36 against an amendment offered by Wisconsin Democrat Sen. Russ Feingold to freeze US military ties with Jakarta amid moves by the Bush administration to expand contacts. In the amendment, which was co-sponsored by five other Democrats, Feingold demanded an investigation into the deaths of the two Americans.

Indonesian police have indicated that the country's military was responsible for the August 31 ambush on a convoy of buses in which an Indonesian teacher also died and eight other Americans were wounded. At least three American FBI agents are in Indonesia to help investigate the case.

In a separate killing in Papua, Indonesia's easternmost region, seven special forces soldiers are standing trial on charges of assassinating Theys Eluay, the province's leading politician and independence leader.

"The senators who voted against the (Feingold) amendment have effectively given US backing to continued gross human rights violations," Karen Orenstein, coordinator of the East Timor Action Network, said in a statement.

Washington cut all military ties with Jakarta in 1999, after Indonesian troops razed the province of East Timor following its pro-independence vote in a UN-sponsored referendum. At the time, Congress passed a bill requiring the president to certify that Indonesia's armed forces had cleaned up their human rights record before ties could be resumed.

However, the Bush administration believes that the cooperation of Indonesia – the world's most populous Muslim nation – is essential in the global war on terrorism. During a visit to Jakarta last year, US Secretary of State Colin Powell announced plans to spend US$50 million over three years to assist Indonesia in the anti-terrorism struggle.

Most of the money is earmarked for training and other assistance to the police. But US$400,000 would be spent on training Indonesian army officers under a Pentagon program known as International Military Education and Training.

"The Bush administration and some in Congress have pushed for resumption of military ties with Indonesia in the name of fighting the 'War on Terror.' But the [army] continues to terrorize Indonesian civilians, including the torture and murder of human rights defenders and political opposition figures," said Kurt Biddle, an analyst with the Washington-based Indonesia Human Rights Network. "This is a major setback for military reform and democracy in Indonesia," said Biddle.