Prime Minister John Howard has defended plans for Australia's military to resume links with Indonesia's notorious Kopassus special forces troops.
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) plans to resume contact and possibly counter-terrorism training with Kopassus, despite its suspected support for the militia carnage in East Timor in 1999.
Links between the ADF and the Indonesians were severed four years ago after accusations that Kopassus helped orchestrate the bloody wave of anti-independence violence.
The Greens yesterday raised accusations of kidnap, arson and murder against two Kopassus battalions enforcing martial law in the strife-torn province of Aceh.
But Mr Howard said it was in Australia's interests to resume contact with Indonesia's top military force to help battle terrorism in the region.
"I think it's important to understand that the contact is very limited, and there is capacity within that organisation to deal with hijacking and terrorist situations," he told journalists.
He said those who opposed the links, including Labor foreign spokesman Kevin Rudd, failed to realise that Kopassus troops could one day be called on to save Australians caught in terrorist violence. Mr Rudd accused Mr Howard of hypocrisy because the government had only months ago detailed Kopassus links to terrorism in the Senate.
"Nine months later, he tells us that he's going to use this self-same organisation to fight terrorists," he told AAP.
Mr Rudd said the government had done nothing to expand counter-terrorism links with Indonesian national police in the 10 months since the Bali bombing, despite the fact they were clearly capable of cooperating with Australia.
"Howard has got a responsibility to tell the Australian people what he's been doing for the last nine months in not responding to Indonesian national police requests to enhance their resources and their capability to be as sharp-edged as possible," he said.
Defence Minister Robert Hill said the resumption of links would not sacrifice Indonesian human rights.