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THE U.S. MUST NOT REWARD THE BRUTAL INDONESIAN MILITARY!

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Act to maintain the suspension on U.S. military ties with human rights violators!

Following Megawati Sukarnoputri’s ascension to the Indonesian presidency, the Bush administration is pushing hard to reward Indonesia’s military (TNI) with increased “non-lethal” assistance and high-level contacts. Yet the Indonesian military has made no reforms of their repressive practices. The TNI and military-backed militia groups continue to hold tens of thousands of East Timorese against their will in Indonesian refugee camps in West Timor, as humanitarian conditions steadily worsen. Cross-border attacks into East Timor continue, most recently by an out-of-uniform Indonesian soldier who shot at UN peacekeepers in East Timor and by four men (in a separate incident) who threatened peacekeepers with machetes. Despite repeated international calls to end TNI’s impunity, no military members have yet had to answer for their many crimes against humanity in East Timor and throughout Indonesia.

On August 30, the East Timorese will vote for a constitutional assembly, the first national elected body of the soon-to-be independent country. East Timor’s future security depends on genuine reform of the TNI and disbanding the militia. Neither will happen if the U.S. restores military ties!

The military and their militia proxies continue to kill hundreds of civilians, targeting human rights defenders and humanitarian workers throughout Indonesia. Indonesia’s new president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, has close ties to the Indonesian military and has given brutal Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres a leadership role in her party. With friends like these, she is unlikely to act on her promises to reform the TNI or prosecute human rights violators in the security forces without significant international pressure!

In Indonesia, the human rights is getting worse. Now is NOT the time to reward the brutal Indonesian military.

What you can do:

Call:

* Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific Jim Kelly, 202-647-9596 (tel.), 202-647-7350 (fax)

* Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, 703-692-7100 (tel.), 703-697-9080 (fax)

Tell them:

* The U.S. must maintain a complete suspension of military relations with Indonesia.

* The U.S. should not reward the Indonesian military for its failure to hold a single military officer accountable for crimes against humanity in East Timor; its failure to disarm and disband militia controlling East Timorese refugees in West Timor; and for torturing and murdering civilians daily throughout Indonesia, especially in Aceh and West Papua.

* The U.S. should support democracy and rule of law in Indonesia by actively supporting an international war crimes tribunal for East Timor, and providing Indonesia with technical, legal, and humanitarian expertise NOT military support!

Background

For background information, please read the following press releases on ETAN’s website, www.etan.org

For questions, contact John M. Miller at ETAN’s New York office,  718-596-7668. Please let us know the results of your calls.

Thank you! Your efforts do make a difference! Due to the hard work of concerned people like you, we have maintained the cut-off of military training and weapons sales to the Indonesian military since September 1999.


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