By Jon Land
The United States Department of Defence announced on May 8 that it was suspending the Joint Combined Exchange and Training (JCET) exercises held with the Indonesian armed forces. A department spokesperson said the suspension was not permanent and that future exercises would be reviewed "case by case".
The head of US forces in the Pacific, Admiral Joseph Prueher, was to leave for Indonesia on May 15 for "soldier-to-soldier" talks and to call for "restraint" in meetings with Indonesian military chiefs, but the visit was cancelled at the last minute. The US Pacific command is responsible for administering JCET exercises with Indonesia.
The decision to suspend training followed a widely publicised hearing of US House of Representatives International Relations Committee on May 7, which heard submissions from Indonesian and East Timorese activists Jaffar Siddiq Hamzah, Pius Lustrilang, Constancio Pinto and "Aryati".
The State Department and the Department of Defence declined to attend the hearing to defend military aid to Indonesia.
The East Timor Action Network (ETAN) and human rights organisation Justice for All have been running a high-profile campaign in the US to end JCET. The day before the hearing, it was announced that a bill to restrict JCET, supported by 21 members of Congress, would be introduced soon.
US journalist and Justice for All activist Allan Nairn, who exposed the training of Indonesian troops with JCET (even though Congress voted to ban the training of Indonesian soldiers in 1992) in the Nation, is highly critical of this manoeuvre by the Clinton administration. On May 9, he said: "The suspension is clearly an effort to pre-empt an embarrassing JCET defeat in Congress and to help salvage the endangered $14.5 billion IMF replenishment bill.
"The administration, under fire from some in Congress for bailing out a repressive regime, is now attempting to justify its continued financing of Suharto and his army by claiming that the JCET suspension adequately addresses human rights concerns.
"The IMF will help enable Suharto and his ABRI [armed forces] henchmen to stay in power. And it will free up funds that they can use to purchase lethal training elsewhere. At the same time, the US continues to sell ABRI new weapons and spare parts, and to counsel them in strategy and tactics with the message that, as one US official put it to me, 'the US is close to and loves the army'."
On the same day that the suspension of JCET was announced, a special US$1 billion loan deal was finalised between Indonesian finance minister, Fuad Bawazier, and the Export-Import Bank of the United States. This will assist US exporters dealing with companies in Indonesia.
Following the deaths of six Indonesian students on May 12, ETAN announced that it would step up the campaign to ban all US military training and the end to the sale of US weapons, spare parts and ammunition to Indonesia. "The Suharto regime should not receive one more bullet, weapon or dollar from the United States", said ETAN spokesperson John M. Miller.
The Australian government has failed to place even limited restrictions, like those imposed by the US, on military aid and training to the Indonesian military-backed dictatorship.
The four-day New Horizon exercise, which began on May 11, involved for the first time the operation of Australian F-111s on Indonesian soil. The exercise was originally to be held near Darwin, but to save money for the Indonesian armed forces, it was moved closer to Indonesian territory.
Foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer told ABC Radio on May 14 that there was no plan to review defence ties. "We have had for many years a defence relationship with Indonesia, and this has not been suspended and it is still going", he said.
Downer said that he had been "impressed" by the restraint of the Indonesian military in dealing with the protests.
The assistant national coordinator for Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor, Jill Hickson, told Green Left Weekly: "This is the typical response by the Australian government. One minute they call for restraint by the military in Indonesia. The next they say that military training and aid must continue, because it is in the 'national interest'.
"By supporting Suharto or whatever military-backed regime may replace him, the Australian government is actively undermining and frustrating the push for democracy in Indonesia. All military links must end immediately", Hickson insisted.
International opposition to military ties with the Indonesian regime is increasing. British-based organisation Tapol, the Indonesian Human Rights Campaign, has called on the British government to immediately halt the delivery of all military equipment to Indonesia.
The East Timor Independence Committee in New Zealand, supported by the Alliance in parliament, has demanded an end to the training of Indonesian military personnel in New Zealand.