http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/GK24Ae01.html
Nov 24, 2005 Indonesia armed for a fight By Bill Guerin JAKARTA - Citing "national security interests" and noting that Indonesia plays a strategic role in Southeast Asia and is a "voice of moderation in the Islamic world", the US State Department jumped the gun on Tuesday and lifted a Congress-approved arms embargo against Indonesia. With East Timor now independent and Aceh no longer a theater of war, Indonesia's pressing need is to upgrade its armed forces to cope with internal security, fight terrorism, guard vital sea lanes, protect the country's numerous oil and gas platforms from terrorist strikes and enforce its maritime boundaries to prevent foreign trawlers from poaching its resources. Smuggling, illegal fishing and maritime piracy are rife in Indonesian waters, and the addition of more sophisticated vessels will go a long way to curbing these threats. A week ago, Congress approved an appropriations bill that gave Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the authority to waive remaining arms restrictions on Indonesia, but it had been thought that the White House would use the possibility of a waiver as leverage to extract concessions from Indonesia, such as on human rights. But Washington will resume full relations with the Indonesian military and provide additional defense funding and counter-terrorism assistance to Jakarta - without strings. "Indonesia is a voice of moderation in the Islamic world," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. US military ties were scaled back in 1992 after a massacre of civilians in East Timor. They were further reduced after pro-Jakarta militias and security forces killed thousands of people during the August 1999 East Timor vote for independence. The move, which caught lawmakers and congressional aides by surprise, comes only days after Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhyono met the US and Russian presidents at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea. After discussions with President George W Bush, Yudhyono, an ex-general, told a news conference, "I am not pleading for a resumption. We deserve it because we have undergone a reform in our military, with an emphasis on respecting human rights and democracy." The bulk of Indonesia's hardware is US-made and the TNI - as the army is called - suffers shortages as it can't get replacements and spares. As a result, Jakarta has increasingly turned to Moscow. After Yudhyono's discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin, it was announced that both leaders had agreed to start up intensive negotiations on setting up a joint production facility for certain sophisticated military equipment and to develop a national defense industry in cash-strapped Indonesia. A deal struck by Yudhyono's predecessor, Megawati Sukarnoputri, with the former communist giant has proved to be the stepping-stone for a far closer relationship with Russia. The Megawati government agreed a US$192 million purchase of two Sukhoi-27 and two Sukhoi-30 warplanes as well as two MI-35 assault helicopters. At the time, the Indonesian Air Force chief spoke of an intention to acquire a total of 48 Sukhoi aircraft over the next four years. Under the deal, Indonesia paid 13.5% of the cost in cash in advance, with the rest to be settled under a counter trade scheme comprising commodities such as rubber, palm oil, cocoa, tea, coffee, textiles, bauxite, electronic equipment, plastics, tin, fruit and fish products. In September, Air Force Vice Marshal Pieter Wattimena, director general of procurement at Indonesia's Ministry of Defense, led a delegation of 16 defense officials to Moscow. The group lobbied Russia to replace the US as Indonesia's main weapons supplier. The US's surprise decision might have an impact on this. Earlier this month, Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono, proposing a military budget increase to deal with "heightened threats against the country's sovereignty and unity", commented that it was "a miracle that we are able to keep this vast territory from breaking apart, should we look at the condition of our military, whose numbers and equipment are inadequate". The navy maintains that a large number of the 117 ships in its fleet are either obsolete, or are run down because it does not have the resources needed to keep them in working order. The fleet includes two Type 209-class submarines and 13 frigates, only six of which, the Ahmed Yani-class ships, are reasonably modern (carrying Sea Cat surface-to-air missiles and Harpoon anti-ship missiles). The other seven frigates (three Tribal-class and four Claude Jones-class), are armed only with guns, and do not have modern fire-control systems. There are also four light frigates (armed with Exocet anti-ship missiles), and 16 Parchim I-class corvettes, as well as numerous patrol boats and support vessels. The air force primarily operates the older F-5 fighter and A-4 attack planes. Its modern fighter force consists of 16 F-16As, the two Su-27SKs and two Su-30MK fighters (an Su-27 that has been souped up for naval warfare) plus 16 Hawk 209 light attack jets. Two army elite units - the army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) and the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) - will eventually get global positioning satellite devices. Yudhyono has also pushed for defense cooperation agreements with other nations to reduce dependence on US and European weapons. After his Korea trip, he flew with a 100-strong entourage to India for a three-day visit. The first stop was Bangalore, at India's sole military aircraft manufacturer, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Indonesian Air Force Chief of Staff Air Marshall Djoko Suyanto said the government was seeking to buy spare parts and missiles from HAL for the Sukhois. On a state visit to Beijing at the end of July, Yudhyono and Chinese President Hu Jintao issued a joint statement in which they agreed to intensify bilateral cooperation in defense and military fields. A different kind of battle The religious elite in Indonesia, which is the world's largest Muslim country, have issued a fatwa (edict) against jihadi terrorism, reports Fabio Scarpello of Inter Press Service (IPS). Over the past three years, Indonesia has been stained by a series of terrorist attacks carried out by jihadis. The fatwa revolves around the interpretation of "jihad" (holy war) . "It is a welcome development and will help clarify the perception of those who associate terrorism with jihad. But terrorism is not just the product of a distorted ideology. Its roots lie also in the social problems of our society," Masdar Farid Mas'udi, director of the Indonesian Society for Pesantren (religious schools) Development, told IPS. The new "task force against terrorism", as the group of mainstream religious leaders has been dubbed, includes individual Muslim scholars as well as members of Indonesia's two largest Islamic organizations, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah - which have a combined membership of 70 million people - and also representatives of Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI), the country's highest religious body. Their mission, as described by Indonesia's Minister of Religious Affairs M Maftuh Basyuni, is to explain what jihad is and to counter the distorted ideology of radical Islam. Jihad literally means struggle and according to most Muslim scholars it means both an inward struggle to better oneself and the Muslim responsibility to prevent injustice in the world. In certain circumstances, it could also mean an active struggle. However, the concept has been distorted by terrorists, who have used it as a cover to carry out attacks in the name of Islam. To counter misinterpretation, the task force has announced plans to publish pamphlets, monitor books and publications that promote wrong interpretations of Islam and also talk to the young and impressionable students that crowd the country's pesantrens - private Islamic schools. The pesantrens (also known as madrassas) in West and Central Java, have proved to be the favorite recruiting ground for the country's growing radical movement. The involvement of mainstream Islamic leaders breaks years of an almost total silence, during which the ulemas (religious leaders) stubbornly avoided comment on the link between terrorism and religion, except for a whispered fatwa against terrorism, issued by the MUI in 2003. Credit for the changed attitude must go to a quiet evening the ulemas spent at the residence of Indonesia's Vice President Jusuf Kalla on November 16, when the group was shown a video found after a recent police raid on a house in Semarang, West Java, where Noordin M Top, a wanted terrorist, was thought to be hiding. Apart from tips on how to make bombs and threaten Westerners, the video also showed three young people, who later blew themselves up in Bali on October 1, justifying their action in the name of jihad. The attack left 20 people dead. "My brother and wife, God willing, when you see this recording, I will already be in heaven," one of them, identified as bomber Muhammad Salik Firdaus, said in Arabic. Firdaus is one of nine home-grown suicide bombers so far identified by the police. Since watching the video, the ulemas and other religious leaders have spoken out unreservedly against the suicide bombers. Ma'aruf Amin, head of the MUI's fatwa department as well as the designated leader of the newly formed religious task force, said that terrorism is haram (a sin) and therefore, forbidden under Islam. "What they do is suicidal acts and also acts of terrorism. Since Indonesia is not in a war zone, those acts are forbidden," he was quoted as saying by Detik.com, an online news service. Similar condemnations have been made by other top Islamic leaders and recorded in the media worldwide. Din Syamsuddin, a senior member of Muhammadiyah and one of those invited at Kalla's home, said jihad as a means of outward struggle is not acceptable in a context such as Indonesia. "The concept of jihad is only acceptable in war-torn regions, where Muslims are evicted from their homeland and their wealth is confiscated, like in Palestine," he told the The Jakarta Post daily. Bill Guerin, a Jakarta correspondent for Asia Times Online since 2000, has been in Indonesia for 20 years, mostly in journalism and editorial positions. He has been published by the BBC on East Timor and specializes in business/economic and political analysis related to Indonesia. He can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us for information on sales, syndication and republishing .) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 1.2 million kids a year are victims of human trafficking. Stop slavery. http://us.click.yahoo.com/WpTY2A/izNLAA/yQLSAA/uTGrlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! 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