THE NEW YORK TIMES, August 2, 2002 Filed at 6:08 p.m. ET
U.S. to Aid Indonesia in Anti-Terror Plan
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)
-- The United States and Indonesia are off to a strong start toward restoring military-to
military ties needed to conquer terrorism's ''evil agenda,'' Secretary of State Colin
Powell said Friday.
During a brief whirlwind visit here that included talks with President Megawati
Sukarnoputri, Powell disclosed that the United States plans to spend $50 million over
three years to assist Indonesia in its anti-terrorism struggle. Most of the money is
already in the pipeline.
Powell spent 16 hours here, the seventh stop on a grueling eight- country, eight-day
swing that concludes Saturday in the Philippines, another country battling terrorism.
As for Indonesia, the Bush administration is earmarking $31 million in
counterterrorism money for the National Police, a newly independent entity controlled
until 2000 by the military. The United States is assisting with start-up costs.
Congress has put strict curbs on military-to-military relations between the two
countries in response to repeated human rights abuses by Indonesian forces in East
Timor.
The administration has been looking for ways to maintain relations with the Indonesian
military, and Powell suggested progress is being made.
''We are starting down a path toward a more normal relationship,'' Powell said after a
meeting with Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda. The administration is seeking $4
million from Congress for military training not forbidden by legislation.
Powell believes that a strong Indonesian military is essential to put down militant
Islamic groups, some of which have ties to al-Qaida.
But Wirajuda said it would be a mistake to exaggerate the terrorist threat. ''We do not
believe we are the future Afghanistan,'' he said.
Powell spent about 15 hours in Jakarta, coping with the city's dense smog and
snarled traffic as he made his rounds of government offices.
At each stop, Powell stressed the need to combat corruption, a State Department
official said. Transparency International, the independent corruption watchdog group,
consistently has ranked Indonesia among the most corrupt countries in the world.
Indonesia was one of Powell's more important stops because of concern among U.S.
officials that the country's 17,000 islands offer terrorists numerous places to hide from
the authorities.
Indonesia's neighbors are concerned that terrorists will use the country as a
springboard for attacks elsewhere in the region. The will of the government to pursue
terrorists is another issue.
Although Powell said he was pleased with the level of cooperation on terrorism, at
times the government has seemed faint-hearted.
After meeting with leaders of Megawati's economic team, Powell spoke to reporters
while seated at a table just a few feet away from a portrait of Megawati's vice
president, Hamzah Haz.
Haz raised eyebrows last September when he said that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
could ''cleanse the sins of the United States.''
In May, Haz paid a jailhouse visit to Jafar Umar Thalib, a Muslim militant leader who
has acknowledged meeting Osama bin Laden.
Thalib, who heads the paramilitary Islamic group Laskar Jihad, faces charges of
inciting violence after a speech in March in which he urged followers to go to war.
It's not clear whether Congress will go along with full normalization of U.S.-Indonesian
military ties.
Robert Gelbard, who served as U.S. ambassador here until last year, said recently in
a letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., that ''military reform has essentially not yet
begun.'' Leahy is a leader in the fight to block a renewal of U.S.-Indonesian military
ties until those responsible for rights abuses are brought to justice.
Powell planned a 16-hour visit to the Philippines. Hours before his Friday night arrival,
about 1,000 anti-American demonstrators had assembled outside the American
Embassy.
Riot police used shields and truncheons to push them to a small park across the
street. A group of about 300 pro-U.S. demonstrators was allowed to rally near the
embassy gates.
En route to Manila, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: ''We are
coming to a valued ally and partner which has worked with us in fighting against
terrorism.''
He said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo wants to enhance economic ties with the
United States and aid its fight against terrorism.
Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
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