Australia would do its best to ensure Kopassus troops who trained East Timor militias would not be involved in joint activities when military links were re-established, Foreign Minister

Damien Kingsbury – The push by the Australian Government to renew its association with the Indonesian military's feared Kopassus special forces is perhaps the most doubtful proposition

Australia's willingness to engage internationally on the war on terror has led it recently to re-engage with the military here. But the US has not been so willing.

John Kerin Sian Powell – The US would not renew its ties with Indonesian special forces arm Kopassus until it resolved alleged military involvement in the unsolved murder of two US citi

Vannessa Hearman – The United States and Australia are moving closer to restoring full military cooperation with Indonesia, including with the discredited Kopassus special operations un

Canberra – Australian Prime Minister John Howard yesterday defended a controversial plan to renew military links with Indonesia's elite Kopassus unit to help fight terror in the region

Prime Minister John Howard has defended plans for Australia's military to resume links with Indonesia's notorious Kopassus special forces troops.

Australia has announced it will renew military ties with Indonesia's special forces unit, Kopassus, just four years after severing links following allegations that Kopassus had co-ordin

Linda Mottram: Though domestic issues are resurgent with the resumption of Federal Parliamentary sittings, security remains dominant, and the matter of how best to fight terrorism in In

[The following is a statement issued by Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific on August 6.]

When Paul Keating was prime minister, Australia and Indonesia signed an "agreement on maintaining security", a pact strong on symbolism but light on substance.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Australia has moved to resume contentious joint military exercises with the Indonesian Army's special forces.

Eleanor Hall: Australian Defence analysts and Indonesia watchers are raising concerns today about the merits of proposed joint-exercises involving Australia's Defence Forces and Indones

The US State Department has insisted it had made no decision on whether to send training aid to Indonesia's military, despite reports that it wants to release 400,000 dollars to armed f

Russell Feingold – Last month this newspaper printed a powerful article by Dana Priest relating the story of an ambush last summer in Indonesia that left three dead, including two Ameri

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government warned on Monday that the US Congress decision to withhold military aid to Indonesia – reportedly because of a failure to bring the perpetrators

Dan Murphy, Washington – The Bush administration has decided to release to the Indonesian military money that was held up after a preliminary US investigation pointed toward Indonesian

Roger Mitton, Washington – There are tremors of apprehension in the United States about a serious downturn in its relationship with Indonesia.

The upper and lower houses of the United States Congress clearly differ over whether to restore training for Indonesian military officers.

Washington – The House voted Wednesday to deny military aid to Indonesia until that country fully investigates an ambush last year that killed two Americans.

Jim Lobe, Washington – Reports that the Bush administration will release funds train Indonesian military officers – despite a recent vote by a key Senate committee that calls for traini

Antony Barnett – The British Government faces fresh embarrassment over its controversial policy of selling arms to Indonesia as the first evidence emerged of the Indonesian military usi

Richard Norton-Taylor, London – The value of British arms cleared for export to Indonesia rose from 2 million Pounds in 2000 ($A4.9 million) to more than 40 million Pounds last year, a

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – The Indonesian army has sent dozens of British-made Scorpion tanks to Aceh ignoring concerns that it is defying British conditions of sale designed to prevent h

Lhokseumawe – Three dozen British-made Scorpion tanks have joined Indonesian troops in Aceh to fight local separatists, risking further dispute with the European country.

Frida Berrigan – Far from the spotlight and far from Baghdad, another shock and awe campaign is underway.

Andrew Marshall – Of all the hardware currently deployed in Aceh, US-supplied bombers, British-made jets, tanks, armored troop carriers, assault helicopters, warships" it was a slate-gr

Tim Johnston, Banda Aceh – The Indonesian army has been accused of using British-built Hawk aircraft to attack separatist rebels in the province of Aceh.

John Aglionby – Indonesia's military chief warned Britain yesterday not to try to dictate how he should use his country's British-made Hawk fighter jets in its operations against separa

Annabel Crabb, Canberra – Australian military co-operation with the Indonesian army and its special forces unit, Kopassus, would not be affected by their involvement in Jakarta's attack

Richard Bingley – Soon after Labour came to power in 1997, its approach to arms sales to Indonesia became the litmus test for the new ethical dimension to foreign policy expounded by a

John B. Haseman – Indonesia's difficult transition from autocracy to democracy is almost five years old.

Marian Wilkinson, Washington – The police chief who led the Bali bombing investigation has pleaded for training assistance from the US for a controversial Indonesian police unit accused

The United States ambassador to Jakarta has said that Indonesia must make better progress in holding its military to account for human rights abuses before the US fully normalises relat

The widow of one of two American teachers shot dead in Indonesia's rugged Papua province last year has been lobbying the United States administration and congressmen to halt the recentl

The United States is expected to bypass Congressional restrictions on funding the Indonesian military or TNI as early as this week.

Jim Lobe, Washington – The administration of US President George W Bush has moved a major step closer to normalizing military ties with the Indonesian military (TNI), which it hopes wil

Moch. N.

US senators voted down an attempt to limit US military training for Indonesia, triggering outrage from campaigners striving to bring East Timor war crimes suspects to justice.

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 i

"Today's Senate floor vote against an amendment offered by Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) to restrict International Military Education and Training (IMET) for Indonesia is an outrage whic

Tim Shorrock, Washington – The US Congress may vote as early as this week to restore a military training program for Indonesia despite uncertainties about the Indonesian military's huma

John Martinkus – As Australia contemplates renewed military ties with Kopassus, Indonesia's special forces, the people of Papua fear an increase in military operations against their pro

"Resuming military ties with Indonesia's notorious Kopassus special forces is not the answer to terrorism", said Max Lane, chairperson of Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific

Retired US General Anthony Zinni held talks with the military chief of Indonesia's Aceh province as part of efforts to pave the way for more talks between Jakarta and separatist rebels.

Richard Norton-Taylor and John Aglionby, Jakarta – The Foreign Office was urgently investigating reports last night that British Hawk jets had been deployed by the Indonesian airforce i

As Bill Clinton leads the US delegation to East Timor's independence celebration, the East Timor Action Network (ETAN) urged that the history of US support for Indonesia's military occu

Max Lane – Almost every day, details of the murder of Acehnese civilians by Indonesian military forces are reported by democratic and human rights organisations and international news a

Max Lane – "It was extremely disappointing to see Australian Prime Minister John Howard shake hands so enthusiastically with Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Statements by top Indonesian Military (TNI) officers last week signaled mounting pressure on President Abdurrahman Wahid to take a harder line against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), with