Key Points
East Timor
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Indonesia
Balancing Security and Democracy
The Bush administration heralds Indonesia as the world’s largest Muslim democracy and a crucial ally in the war on terrorism. Since 9-11 it has pushed Congress to allow it to bolster the Indonesian military with weapons and military training. For many years, the United States was Indonesia’s largest weapons source, equipping the country with everything from F-16 fighter planes to M-16 combat rifles. But during the 90s the spectacle of how Indonesia was using these gifts–to repress and brutalize its own people–provoked an international outcry. The U.S. Congress responded by cutting most military ties with the Indonesia.
U.S. Aid for Tsunami-Hit Nations Falls Short
As the full extent of the destruction and death the tsunami wrought in South Asia becomes clear, significant aid pledges are finally pouring in. While the U.S. is beginning to respond, little attention is being paid in the public debate to the need for effective development assistance for South Asia in the medium to long term. Comparisons of what the U.S. is doing for disaster relief relative to other nations are obscuring the need for a sober assessment of how well U.S. aid measures up compared to the actual need. The White House is drafting its 2006 budget this month, so this is an important opportunity to expose how the U.S. falls short when it comes to providing aid commensurate with its wealth.
Phoenix Rising? Will the Bush Administration’s Actions Move Aceh Toward Peace or a Continued Descent Into Destruction?
Aceh, so long isolated from international view by the Indonesian government and military, is now—tragically—at the center of world attention. Members of the U.S. Congress and their staff, U.N. officials, journalists, and humanitarian aid workers have arrived on the scene after years of blocked access. These shifts offer the Bush administration and other actors an unprecedented opportunity for peace-building and enhancement of human security and stability in a region dominated by violent conflict for decades.
Supporting Indonesia’s Military Bad Idea Second Time Around
As part of the war on terrorism, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently called for rebuilding military relations with the Indonesian army. In a joint May 13 press conference with his Indonesian counterpart, Matori Abdul Djalil, Rumsfeld said the Bush administration intended to work with Congress, “to reestablish the kind of military-to-military relations which we believe are appropriate.”
East Timor: U.S. Gave Green Light to Invasion
If Americans needed any reminding how, during the cold war, U.S. policymakers subordinated Wilsonian principles of self-determination to the larger anticommunist struggle, they should read several secret U.S. documents surrounding Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor obtained and released this week by the independent National Security Archive (NSA). The documents confirm that visiting U.S. President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger gave a green light to President Suharto for the invasion.
Indonesia: Aceh Arrests Could Portend Increased Polarization, Violence
The detention by Indonesian police on July 20 of 15 human rights activists and six negotiators for the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka or GAM) could portend a polarization of the conflict between government and rebel forces at the height of the political crisis in Jakarta over President Abdurrahman Wahid’s impeachment and the taking office of the new president, Megawati Sukarnoputri.
The Global Sustainable Development Resolution
Indonesia After Suharto
Key Points
Indonesia
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