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Indonesia needs more 'carrot,' less 'stick'
April 21, 1999
By Edward Neilan
Special to World Tribune.com
TOKYO--What Indonesia needs from the United States and the rest of the
West is more "carrot" and less "stick".
Leadership needs to be offered to the important nation which has been
devastated by an economic crisis not unlike the U.S. Great Depression.
The endless lectures by foreigners from the International Monetary
Fund(IMF) showing up in Jakarta and World Bank threats about ending
"crony capitalism" should be junked. Western embargoes should be undone,
United Nations sanctions lifted and positive measures implemented. The
world should give Indonesia a sweeping amnesty for its supposed
transgressions and allow Jakarta a fresh start.
What is needed is no less than a revolution in the nation's
institutions. As an aside, at a conference last year, former U.S. Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger said "Why is it that the United States is always
left with the role of rebuilding, of picking up the pieces? Where are the
Europeans, the Japanese?"
One thing the United States could do right away--with Indonesian
approval--is to restore military cooperation with the ABRI, Indonesia's
armed forces.
This suggestion is bound to evoke wails of protest by those who see the
ABRI as responsible for the situation in East Timor including a series of
appalling abuses earlier this year.
Attempts to reform the military are essential because of the ABRI's
strong role in Indonesian society and the realization that further
demonization of the military would only lead to "another Myanmar." Change
has to start somewhere and the military is an excellent departure point.
The U.S should not cooperate or conduct exercises with the Indonesian
special forces or paramilitary units suspected of the abuses.
"It should cooperate,"as Heritage Foundation research John T. Dori said
recently, "with less political branches of Indonesia's military, like the
air force and the navy. The United States should also praise Indonesian
efforts to place the military under greater civilian control."
One way to promote military reform would be the restoration of the U.S.
International Military Education and Training program with Indonesia. This
program allows foreign military officers to study in the United States and
witness firsthand the relationship between the U.S. military and civil
society.
Former President Suharto suspended Indonesian participation in the
program in June 1997 because of U.S. congressional criticisms of human
rights abuses in East Timor.
"Both the Clinton administration and Congress should make clear their
interest in resuming
this program," Dori said.
Similar reforms should be pursued, in other other areas of society,
such as education and management. The stress of assistance should be
know-how and butter, not guns.
In strategic context, East Timor is a sideshow posing as the main
event. Brutal factionalism existed all during the Portuguese era of
control, due partly to the Christian religion background of the Timorese
with incidents fanned by a vocal overseas diaspora.
Indonesia, Portugal and United Nations authorities are trying to set
guidelines for an election in July to decide between independence or
more autonomy within Indonesia.
Indonesia, after all, is the world's fourth-largest nation at
209,774,138 (1997 estimate). It could become the third-largest
democracy after the United States and India.
Indonesia is important to the security of the United States and Japan
and South Korea. Indonesia's islands are astride strategic sealanes
connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans through which passes 40 percent
of the world's shipping, including 80 percent of Japan's oil supply and 70
percent of South Korea's.
Indonesia has been a welcome moderating force in the Islamic world as
the world's most populous Muslim state.
As a champion of reforms in its transition to a democratic political
system, the United States should reward Indonesia, particularly if progress
can be made in reducing levels of violence and human rights abuses.
An invitation for Indonesia President B.J Habibie to visit Washington
would be appropriate if parliamentary elections set for June 7 go off
smoothly. He is at least as worthy a guest as China's Premier Zhu Rongji
who recently received red-carpet treatment in the U.S. despite China's
shaky record on human rights.
Edward Neilan (eneilan@crisscross.com) is a veteran journalist, based in Tokyo, who covers East Asia and writes weekly for World Tribune.com.
April 21, 1999
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