In 1999, after decades of trying, the sane people of Earth finally managed to pressure the UN and various governments into convincing the US, Australia and England to stop helping Indonesia kill East Timorese.
Very reluctantly, the US stopped providing military aid and counter-insurgency equipment. Over the past few years, they have made a show of saying that military sactions will remain until Indonesia satisfactorily reforms its military. Indonesia's response has pretty much been: "We'll do what we like, leave us alone."
Now, with all the same problems inherent in the Indonesian military, the US is about to start supplying weapons again. They pass this off as necessary because of the increasingly ridiculous War on Terror.
Anyone with an IQ over 30 should be able to see that of all the types of aid that Indonesia could use, weapons are close to, if not at, the bottom of the list.
Before she was kicked out of the country, Sydney Jones documented many cases of where the military aided groups that were involved in seperatist conflicts in Ambon and Papua. Many of the same people who benefited from this military help are in paramilitary groups with ties to JI and other organisations that have killed people and bomed or burned buildings. And nothing breeds support of these groups more than a perception that Indonesia is selling out its muslim population to a country that is perceived to be hell-bent on wiping muslims off the face of the planet.
The police used to be part of the military, and are now a separate organisation. And it was the Indonesian police, with help from the Australian Federal Police, who did all the good work in capturing and convicting 30-40 people involved in the Bali bombings, as well as many others with ties to terrorist organisations. The police did the bulk of this work... NOT the military.
The US is pushing for Indonesia to do more in the War on Terror. In the two years since the Bali Bombing, close to 40 people have been caught, tried, and sentenced. In the three years since the attack on America, despite thousands of people being incarcerated, and hundreds of thousands killed, only one (I think that's right -- correct me if I'm wrong) person has been tried and sentenced.
Hello? Is anybody home?
If the War on Terror must be supported, it is the Indonesian police who need support. They need to be paid a decent wage, for starters. As it is, they have to pay 20 million Rp to join the police force, and they earn 500,000 rp a month. That's basically telling them that corruption is part of the job.
But regardless of that, there are so many things that are needed more urgently to improve the basic living conditions.
And the worst thing about it is that the military support will have conditions attached to it. Some dodgy FTA, or some slimy mining rights, or more exploitative companies like Gap and Nike gaining entry. They've been lining up on the borders, waiting for SBY to take over so they can be waved in.
BUT... there's a little glimmer of hope. SBY might have been a bit of a dark horse. He's seen as a Western-friendly President, and I'm sure he is. But he also seems interested in seeking foreign investment closer to home, and developing closer ties with other Asian countries, which, if nothing else, should help appease some of the radical groups who think that all white people are the devil, or at least mad Christians with an armageddon fetish, just because they can't tell the difference between us and George Bush.
I've said it before, and I'll repeat it now. It is we, the people on this forum and those like us, who travel to other countries and make friends, who have the power to reduce the threat of terrorism. It is up to us to be the peacemakers, to show that there are millions of us who want to help, or at least mean no harm, and that there are no insurmountable impediments to friendship between people of different races and cultures.
Bombs and guns will never bring peace. The Indonesian military has never been a friend of the Indonesian people. Any support for them means more misery for the people.
I don't know if there's any point writing to your MP. Most governments seem to have stopped listening to the citizens a long time ago. But please, be the best ambassador you can be when you travel, and try to leave the place just a little bit nicer than it was when you got there.