Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Indonesia faces a return of US military aid restrictions unless it prosecutes the general responsible for Jakarta's bloody withdrawal from East Timor and drastically reforms its armed forces' business arrangements, its parliament has heard.
Washington in 2005 lifted military sanctions imposed after the 1999 withdrawal from East Timor when thousands died at the hands of Indonesian military-trained gangs, even though there has only ever been one successful prosecution in relation to that matter.
Now new curbs are being urged by groups concerned that Jakarta has done far too little to address the culture of impunity in its vast military and the sprawling business empire with which it supplements its 32.6 trillion rupiah ($4 billion) official budget – and from which parliament has ordered it to completely withdraw by 2009.
US Foreign Secretary Condoleezza Rice has argued against the 25 per cent restriction in military aid being considered by Congress that would try to force Jakarta's hand.
Instead, Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono has told parliament Dr Rice suggested three conditions that should be met in order for the full $US8 million ($9.5 million) funding bill – a small part of Washington's proposed $US34.2 billion 2008 foreign aid budget – to pass.
These included the prosecution of former military chief General Wiranto, who presided over the 1999 bloodletting, total reform of Indonesia's military structure, and the reining in of its private business arrangements, which include illegal logging, fishing, sand mining and weapons trading.
But a cocky Mr Sudarsono told parliament he was not concerned that the proposal to withhold $US2 million of the $US8 million in aid would succeed. "There are many US Congress members sympathetic to the TNI (Indonesian military)," Mr Sudarsono said. "We don't need to worry."
TNI spokesman Sagom Tamboen was just as sanguine yesterday, telling The Australian: "If in fact the restrictions are put in place, we believe that the Government will have other options... anyway, we're accustomed to limitations."
As for any prosecutions against General Wiranto, the Indonesia-East Timor Truth and Friendship Commission – on which hopes for effective reconciliation are pinned – has the power to grant complete amnesty to anyone it finds guilty of human rights breaches.
Indonesia's military continues to find itself squirming in the human rights spotlight, with current chief Djoko Suyanto fronting a parliamentary committee this week to answer allegations that the recent shooting deaths of four civilians and an unborn child at the hands of Navy marines were murder.
The dead, including a woman hiding in her kitchen, were killed during a land rights dispute in East Java by what the military has claimed were bullets ricocheting upwards after being fired into soft earth. "I think calling it murder is completely inappropriate," General Suyanto objected.
Thirteen marines are to face trial over the shootings in a military tribunal, but there will be no criminal proceedings.