[asia-apec 1857] ETAN ALERT: Say No to Military Assistance to Indonesia

[John M. Miller]

“JUST SAY NO” TO NEW MILITARY ASSISTANCE FOR INDONESIA

CONGRESSIONAL AND PENTAGON CALL-IN DAYS APRIL 10-11

The Pentagon, with a handful of Congressional allies, is actively working 
to circumvent the ban on military training for the Indonesian military 
(TNI) initially put in place in response to the 1999 scorched-earth 
campaign in East Timor. Even as human rights conditions continue to 
deteriorate in Indonesia and justice for East Timor remains distant, they 
are seeking to expand military assistance.

For what is the Bush administration seeking to reward the Indonesian military?

Torture, rape, disappearances, and murder in Aceh, West Papua, and 
elsewhere in Indonesia; show trials on East Timor in Jakarta; and the 
revival of political imprisonment by the Megawati administration. (See 
additional background below.)

Urge Congress to put an end to aggressive Pentagon support for the TNI! 
Tell Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that a military which terrorizes 
its own people is not a worthy ally.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Together with others, make these contacts on Wednesday, April 10, or 
Thursday, April 11 or whenever you can. (sample letters follow).

I. Call, fax, and email your Representative and two Senators.

Tell them to use their voice and vote in Congress:
*       to prevent the administration from stepping up military assistance 
for Indonesia. The Indonesian military should not receive a U.S. seal of 
approval while it continues to evade accountability for crimes against 
humanity committed in East Timor and terrorize civilians throughout Indonesia.

*       to ensure that the Indonesian military is not trained under the 
secretive new Regional Defense Counter-terrorism Fellowship Program. This 
recently passed provision of the Defense Department Appropriations Act 
clearly circumvents the International Military Education and Training 
(IMET) restriction for Indonesia and has the potential to create a new 
“School of the Americas” for Asian militaries.

*       to ensure that Congress does not grant the administration’s new 
request for an additional $16 million to train the Indonesian military and 
police and “to vet, train, and equip a counter-terrorism unit in Indonesia.”

*       to renew restrictions on IMET and Foreign Military Financing (FMF) 
in the fiscal year 2003 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.
Phone calls and faxes are generally more effective than emails. The 
congressional switchboard number is 202-224-3121 (ask for the office of 
your Senators or Representative), or check http://www.congress.org on the 
Internet for fax or e-mail information.

II. Call or fax Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Tell him:
*       The Pentagon must not reward the Indonesian military for torture, 
rape, disappearances, and murder of civilians throughout Indonesia.

*       You oppose Pentagon efforts to gut restrictions on military 
training for the TNI because they undermine the rule-of-law and human 
rights protections for East Timor and Indonesia. The Pentagon’s efforts 
legitimize a security force that destroyed East Timor and has rewarded 
those responsible with promotions within government and military ranks.
Secretary Rumsfeld  telephone: 703-692-7100 or try comment line703- 
428-0711; fax: 703-697-9080. (If you get bounced to a message system, leave 
a succinct message and, if you want, call again and ask to talk with a live 
person.

Please let us know the results of your contacts. Thank you! Your efforts do 
make a difference!
---------------------

BACKGROUND

Last December, Senators Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Ted Stevens (R-AK) 
inserted language in the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (HR 3338, 
provision 8125) providing $17.9 million to establish a Regional Defense 
Counter-terrorism Fellowship Program at the behest of Admiral Dennis C. 
Blair, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command (CINCPAC). There are 
no restrictions on which countries can participate in the new secretive 
program, allowing previously banned training for Indonesia. What will be 
taught remains undefined. This program is a calculated end-run around hard 
won restrictions on training for the TNI in the Foreign Operations 
Appropriations Act. (For more information on the Regional Defense 
Counter-terrorism Fellowship Program, see ETAN/Indonesia Human Rights 
Network media releases: “Rights Groups Condemn End Run on Military Training 
Restrictions for Indonesia” [http://www.etan.org/news/2001a/12train.htm] 
and “Congress Bolsters Ban on Training for Indonesia with One Bill, While 
Opening a Loophole with Another.” [http://www.etan.org/news/2001a/12forops.htm]

In March, the Bush administration boldly went a step further and requested 
another $16 million in a supplemental appropriations request -- $8 million 
for the “training of civilian and military personnel in support of 
humanitarian and peacekeeping activities in Indonesia” and another $8 
million to “vet, train, and equip a counter-terrorism unit.” Congress 
expects to begin work on the Emergency FY 2002 Supplemental Appropriations 
request at the end of April and hopes to pass the bill by the late May’s 
Memorial Day recess.

Meanwhile, the State Department’s Country Report on Human Rights Practices 
in Indonesia noted, “Security forces were responsible for numerous 
instances of, at times indiscriminate, shooting of civilians, torture, 
rape, beatings and other abuse, and arbitrary detention in Aceh, West 
Timor, Papua
 and elsewhere in the country.” Nearly 2000 people were killed 
in Aceh in 2001, the vast majority civilians. Military and paramilitary 
crackdowns in Aceh and West Papua have frequently targeted human rights 
defenders and those suspected of pro-independence sympathies. Investigators 
have accused members of the notorious Kopassus special forces of the murder 
of West Papuan independence leader Theys Eluay, but have shied away from 
looking into who gave the orders.

The first trials of 18 suspects indicted by the Indonesian ad hoc Human 
Rights Court on East Timor began last month in Jakarta. The mandate of this 
flawed court is limited to only two months of an extremely brutal 24-year 
military occupation and three of East Timor’s 13 districts. Recently leaked 
Australian intelligence intercepts strongly implicate many senior military 
personnel not named as suspects by Indonesian prosecutors, including A.M. 
Hendropriyono, currently intelligence chief; Major-General Sjafrie 
Sjamsuddin, recently promoted to military spokesperson; and Mahidin 
Simbolon, now head of the military command in West Papua. Military 
officers, including high-level personnel, have packed the courtroom in 
Jakarta to show solidarity with the defendants. As expected, lawyers for 
the defense have already questioned the constitutionality of the court. See 
ETAN media release “10 Reasons Why Indonesian Courts Will Not Bring Justice 
to East Timor” for further explanation. 
(http://www.etan.org/news/2002a/03ten.htm) In a separate case in Indonesia, 
the trial of three militiamen charged with the murder of a New Zealand 
peacekeeper resulted in a “not guilty” verdict.

While East Timorese refugees are returning at an increased rate in recent 
weeks, some 60,000 refugees remain in West Timor. Militia intimidation and 
misinformation remain rampant, and security for the refugees inadequate. A 
recent UN report by the UN noted that the presence of hard-line militia in 
West Timor pose a long-term threat to East Timor’s peace and security. 
Humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate in the camps, especially as 
the Indonesian government has largely ended its assistance. An estimated 
1600 East Timorese refugee children remain separated from their parents, 
some 170 of whom were sent to orphanages and other institutions throughout 
the archipelago as part of militia-run programs.

In the fall of 1999, the U.S. Congress cut off IMET and foreign military 
financing for Indonesia until it meets certain conditions pertaining to 
East Timor, including the return of refugees and accountability for human 
rights violations in East Timor and Indonesia. In 2002 additional 
conditions were added pertaining to Indonesian military reform and the 
release of political detainees. Conditions on these restrictions, known as 
the “Leahy Conditions,” must be renewed annually in the Foreign Operations 
Appropriations Act. Work will soon begin on this year’s bill.

For more information, check out ETAN’s website, www.etan.org, or contact 
ETAN Outreach and Media Coordinator John M. Miller, john at etan.org, 
718-596-7668.

-----------------------------------------

SAMPLE LETTERS (please modify to use your own words)

To Members of Congress

Write:
Your Senator, Senate, Washington, DC 20510
Your Representative, House of Representative, Washington, DC 20515


Dear Senator or Representative (choose which),

I am writing to urge you to actively oppose U.S. military assistance for 
Indonesia. The Indonesian military should not receive U.S. support while it 
continues to evade accountability for crimes against humanity committed in 
East Timor and continues to torture, murder and rape civilians throughout 
Indonesia.

I am especially concerned that the secretive new Regional Defense 
Counter-terrorism Fellowship Program will be used to evade important 
existing Congressional restrictions. This program clearly circumvents 
restrictions on International Military Education and Training (IMET) for 
Indonesia. I urge you to oppose Indonesia’s participation in this program, 
as well as the administration’s recent request for an additional $16 
million to train the Indonesian military and police.

Finally, I support the renewal of existing restrictions on IMET and Foreign 
Military Financing (FMF) in the fiscal year 2003 Foreign Operations 
Appropriations bill. U.S. policy must support human rights, not abusive 
militaries like Indonesia’s should not be rewarded.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,


Fax to 703-697-9080, use an online form http://www.dod.gov/faq/comment.html 
or mail to

Secretary of Defense
The Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301

Dear Secretary Rumsfeld,

I am writing to voice my strong opposition to your efforts to increase U.S. 
military assistance for Indonesia. The Indonesian military (TNI) should not 
receive U.S. support while it continues to evade accountability for crimes 
against humanity committed in East Timor and continues to torture, murder 
and rape civilians throughout Indonesia.

Your attempts to gut restrictions on military training for the TNI 
undermine the rule-of-law and human rights protections for East Timor and 
Indonesia and subvert carefully calculated congressional actions. Your 
efforts legitimize the security force that destroyed East Timor and has 
rewarded those responsible with promotions within government and military 
ranks. Administration initiatives taken within the last year to work more 
closely with the TNI and resume commercial non-lethal defense sales have 
done nothing to advance military reform.

I urge you to end your efforts to resume military ties with the Indonesian 
military. They run counter to our nation’s professed support for human 
rights and democracy, while contributing to political instability in 
Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country.

Sincerely,


This alert can be found at http://www.etan.org/action/action2/04alert.htm



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John M. Miller         Internet: john at etan.org

Media & Outreach Coordinator
East Timor Action Network: 10 Years for Self-Determination & Justice

48 Duffield St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA
Phone: (718)596-7668      Fax: (718)222-4097
Mobile phone: (917)690-4391
Web site: http://www.etan.org

Support ETAN, make a secure financial contribution: 
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Send a blank e-mail message to info at etan.org to find out
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