also: Bush visit signals Indonesia as strategic partner: analysts

The Washington Post Sunday, November 19, 2006

Visit to Mark Closer Ties With Jakarta

Military Cooperation Grows as U.S. Concerns on Rights Issues Recede

Joe Cochrane Special to The Washington Post

In the run-up to President Bush's visit to Indonesia this week, two dozen members of a fundamentalist Islamic group raided and occupied a historic botanical garden in the mountain town of Bogor, outside Jakarta. Their target was the site where a construction crew was building a landing pad for Bush's helicopter. Their message was simple: Bush was not welcome in the world's largest Muslim-majority country.

Within 30 minutes, hammers were pounding again and the cement mixer had resumed turning, but as a media event, the gimmick briefly worked. Other, little-known Muslim groups began protesting Bush's visit and were given blanket coverage by local news outlets. Senior members of Indonesia's parliament accused Bush of slaughtering Muslims worldwide and claimed his half-day visit to Bogor was part of a plot to control Indonesia's economy.

The Jakarta government barely responded to the protests, and didn't need to. Relations between Indonesia and the United States are their warmest in decades, evidenced by the growing friendship between Bush and his counterpart, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

"These clowns are just making noises," Juwono Sudarsono, the Indonesian defense minister, said of the protesters. "Anti- Americanism is a high-tech industry."

Although the Indonesian government and most of the country's 230 million people are against the U.S. presence in Iraq, many are thrilled that Bush is coming to talk about American funding for education, anti-poverty and anti-corruption programs.

And in a marked turnaround in the relationship, the two countries have grown closer because of common military and security concerns, issues that Indonesian officials say are not on the official agenda for Bush's brief visit.

The Indonesian armed forces, known as the TNI, have long been seen as the only institution capable of preventing the country of 7,000 disparate islands from fragmenting along geographical and ethnic lines. But the United States had imposed sanctions on the military for most of the 1990s because of repeated reports of human rights violations, including rapes, kidnappings, murders of political activists and the widespread killing of civilians in such outlying provinces as Aceh and Papua.

The United States severed most ties with the Indonesian military after its rampage in the territory of East Timor in 1999. To date, no senior officer has been held accountable for any crimes. In 2002, East Timor was internationally recognized as an independent state.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, U.S. officials publicly criticized then-President Megawati Sukarnoputri for not doing enough to combat terrorism and for not arresting militants allegedly linked to al-Qaeda.

The Bush administration informed Congress early last year that it was fully restoring military training programs with Indonesia. Last November, the White House lifted a ban on selling military hardware to the TNI despite concerns from some lawmakers and outrage from Indonesian human rights activists and victim-advocacy groups.

The two countries now conduct joint military exercises and closely cooperate on counterterrorism. This month, an advance team of Indonesian soldiers arrived in Beirut aboard a U.S. military transport plane to join a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.

"In the post-9/11 era, many people recognized that Indonesia is important not only because of its geographically strategic importance, but its position in the Islamic world," said Paul Rowland, director of the National Democratic Institute in Jakarta, a U.S.-funded democracy- building organization. "Plus, there's a huge acceptance and support of democracy here."

After the confrontation between the United States and Indonesia in the 1990s over human rights, the Bush administration opted for a pragmatic approach. It saw Indonesia as an example of a country trying to move toward democracy after decades of authoritarianism under strongman Suharto, who ruled from 1966 to 1998.

And there were fears the country could break apart amid widespread religious and ethnic violence, terrorist attacks and a prolonged economic crisis.

Sudarsono, the defense minister, said in an interview that the U.S. ban on weapons sales and training programs for Indonesian military officers was counterproductive "not only for the development of the TNI, but it went against the grain of helping the only institution capable of holding the country together."

"The Americans see that they need the military in the fight against terrorism," said Jusuf Wanandi, chairman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta. "Secondly, this has been the group they trusted for so long during the Suharto time because they're anti-communist and anti-China."

The restoration of ties was welcomed by reformers among former and current top Indonesian officers, who have said sanctions played into the hands of army officers who wanted the military to continue playing a leading role in politics as they did during Suharto's "New Order" regime.

"The gap of several years created the perception that we didn't need foreign military education," said Agus Widjojo, a retired army general, "and that such foreign programs only spurred reform ideas rather than traditional military thoughts."

The Indonesian military has taken some reform initiatives since the 1999 East Timor crisis, including giving up its appointed seats in parliament, selling off its business interests and putting its chain of command under a civilian defense minister. These moves won over skeptics in the U.S. Congress, which also has followed the White House in taking a softer approach toward the Indonesian military.

But analysts and some retired generals said they feared the reform drive had stalled. More input is needed now from political leaders, they said, but the country's civilian leadership is still too weak to confront obstructionist generals in the ranks.

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Bush visit signals Indonesia as strategic partner: analysts

JAKARTA, November 19 (AFP) -- President George W. Bush's visit to Indonesia on Monday has sparked daily protests but his trip shows the United States views the world's largest Muslim nation as a strategic regional partner, analysts say.

Bush is due to meet with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during a brief stopover in nearby Bogor on his way back home from an Asia-Pacific leaders' summit in Vietnam which they both attended.

News of his visit has prompted daily protests, especially from hardline Muslim groups and students angry about the US- led war in Iraq and its presence in Afghanistan.

Some Muslim groups have also threatened to move a no- confidence motion in parliament against Yudhoyono for inviting the US president.

But analysts say Bush's visit shows that Washington views Indonesia as an important partner in the region and will allow the two countries to increase bilateral cooperation in areas such as health, education, disaster management and poverty eradication.

Investment is also among key topics slated for discussions, with mineral-rich Indonesia needing to attract greater foreign investment to fuel its economy.

"Bush's decision to come proves that we are a strategic partner for the United States," said Bantarto Bandoro, political analyst with the private think tank Center for Strategic International Studies.

While stringent security measures enforced ahead of the US president's arrival have irked many and provoked controversy, analysts say his visit is good news for Indonesia.

Bandoro said critics had ignored the positive aspects of the visit while airing their main fear that Indonesia's policy- making would fall under Washington's shadow. Even the region stood to gain, he said.

"Our relations with the United States, up to a certain point, also impact on the strategic environment in Southeast Asia," Bantarto said, adding that many worry that any problems in bilateral relations could impact on the stability of Southeast Asia.

"The good side of the coin is that the visit gives a good boost to Indonesia's international credibility," said Arbi Sanit, a political observer from the state University of Indonesia.

"Good ties with the United States also means good ties with its allies and this will certainly be to our advantage," Sanit said.

Hermawan Sulistyo, from the Ridep Institute for Democracy and Peace said Bush's visit was an "honor" for Indonesia which should use the occasion to promote its own foreign policy views.

"The question is how to make use of the visit to promote more bilateral cooperation and to put through our views on the various international issues, including the Middle East," Sulistyo said.

While the visit would benefit Jakarta, Bush also stood to gain through this foreign trip following the defeat of his Republican Party in mid-term elections, he said.

"For Bush, the visit becomes important because his position has greatly weakened domestically in the United States," Sulistyo said, pointing to Indonesia's growing regional importance.

Protest rallies against the visit have been held daily in various towns and cities across Indonesia, including in Bogor and Jakarta, and Muslim leaders and senior legislators have stated their opposition.

The security clampdown has also sparked protests over the closure of main roads around the summer palace in Bogor, evictions of traders at a nearby market, and the diversion of public transport.

Many politicians and public leaders have openly endorsed protestors' opposition to the visit, some even going as far as punching masks of Bush at media photo opportunities.

But Sulistyo said critics of the visit were motivated by their own interests rather than those of the nation and pointed to the relatively small-scale of the demonstrations so far.

"The visit has been used as an arena of competition between politicians, groups and others in the country," Sulistyo said.

Azyumardi Azra, chancellor of the Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic university in Jakarta, however urged Yudhyono to be more transparent with the public about the visit.

"The visit is much more controversial this time, because many people are directly affected, such as the public transport, street hawkers, etc."

Indonesia's armed forces (TNI) are taking no chances in safeguarding Bush.

"The TNI will take no risks whatsoever," military spokesman Rear Admiral Mochamad Sunarto said, adding however that force or violence would only be used as a last resort.

"We will maintain an image of a good host, a responsible host," he said.

------------------------------------------ Joyo Indonesia News Service