Jakarta – The United States' decision to resume training members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) after a 14-year suspension of cooperation shows Washington's recognition of the government's efforts to reform the TNI, officials said on Monday.
"The United States believes that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will be able to carry out reforms within the TNI within the framework of democracy," Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono said when asked why the US had decided to resume the program.
Separately, foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said the resumption of the full International Military Education and Training (IMET) program was a recognition of the progress Indonesia had made in democracy.
"This is a development that deserves to be welcomed. The resumption of the program represents an acknowledgment of the far-reaching democratic changes that have taken place in Indonesia in recent years," Marty told AFP.
Indonesia last year went through a series of peaceful democratic elections, including its first direct presidential polls that made Susilo its sixth head of state.
Juwono said the TNI's professionalism would be enhanced through the program. "It will give young high-ranking military officers the opportunity to absorb experiences from another country." The TNI particularly hopes to benefit from training on the "transparent and efficient" use of funds for defense affairs, he said.
"We hope that after undergoing training our military officers will be able to implement a clean managerial system and create a defense system that is specific to Indonesia," Juwono said, without elaboration.
TNI deputy spokesman Col. Ahmad Yani Basuki welcomed on Sunday the resumption of the cooperation as a positive move.
Likewise, Andi Widjajanto, a military analyst from the University of Indonesia (UI), was supportive of Indonesia's renewed participation in the program.
"It's good that the US will restart the program for the TNI. I believe that this program will lead to a new atmosphere of democracy. I hope the US will also provide further assistance that can help our country define its defense concept in line with the spirit of reform," Andi told The Jakarta Post.
Lt. Gen. (ret) Agus Widjojo and Lt. Gen. (ret) Luhut Pandjaitan were among several TNI generals who underwent the IMET program.
However, human rights groups have condemned the resumption of the IMET program for the TNI, which has been accused of widespread rights abuses in the country and its former province, East Timor.
"The [move] is a setback for justice, human rights and democratic reform," John Miller, spokesman for the New York-based East Timor Action Network, was quoted by AP as saying. "The Indonesian Military's many victims throughout the country and East Timor will recognize this policy shift as a betrayal of their quests for justice and accountability," Miller said.
On Saturday, the US State Department announced that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice determined that Jakarta had cooperated with the FBI's investigation into the murders of two American schoolteachers during an ambush in Papua.
Congress had set this as a condition for Indonesia's participation in a US military training program, which is generally viewed as a first step in lifting a ban on military-to-military ties between the two countries.
Indonesia's participation in the program has been essentially on hold since 1992, when its military launched a bloody crackdown against pro-independence protesters in East Timor.
The sanctions were further tightened in 1999, after the TNI was accused of being behind the deaths of about 1,500 people in East Timor in an unsuccessful bid to prevent the territory from gaining independence.