The Bush Administration’s move on November 22 to waive Congressional restrictions on military relations with the Southeast Asian nation has come under strong criticism.

"This is an abuse of discretion and an affront to the Congress," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, a persistent critic of the Indonesian military and the author of bills linking military aid to the improvement of human rights in that country. "To waive on national security grounds a law that seeks justice for crimes against humanity —without even obtaining the Indonesian government's assurance that it will address these concerns—makes a mockery of the process and sends a terrible message. The Indonesians will see it as a clean bill of health."

To be sure, the news looks promising in a region of Indonesia where the military has had a horrendous record over the past few decades.

The province of Aceh seems to be headed for peace—a beneficial by-product of the terrible tsunami that hit the area a year ago—as rebels announced December 27 that they were ready to lay down their arms.

And Indonesia’s political system has reformed greatly since the end of the Suharto era. At the direction of General Suharto, the Indonesian military was responsible for killing hundreds of thousands, first during his accession to power and then to stifle independence movements, most notably in East Timor. Democratically elected governments over the past few years have acted as an institutional check on the military, a counterweight completely missing during Suharto’s reign from 1966 to 1998.

But there are still several problem areas remaining. The Indonesian military has repeatedly used excessive force to suppress a secessionist movement in the Irian Jaya (Papua) region.

"In Papua, operations by the security forces against the armed opposition group, the Free Papua Organization, reportedly resulted in extrajudicial executions," Amnesty International states in its 2005 report. "At least six civilians were reportedly killed and thousands displaced in Puncak Jaya during violence which started when the security forces began operations against the Free Papua Organization in August (2004)."

The military has also carried out human rights abuses for multinational corporations such as U.S.-based Freeport McMoran, as a big investigative piece in December 27’s New York Times reveals.

And there is East Timor, where the Indonesian military murdered at least 1,400 civilians in 1999 in a killing frenzy before vacating the newly independent country. Human Rights Watch concluded in a June 2005 report that the Indonesian prosecution effort to punish the guilty was a masquerade and called on the U.N. Security Council to establish an international tribunal.

"Indonesia's trials for crimes in East Timor speak for themselves: The process was a sham," said Brad Adams, Asia director of the organization.

So what is behind the Bush Administration’s decision to reward the Indonesian military in spite of its horrible record?

First, Bush has been eager to do so for a long time, and the peace process in Aceh may have been a catalyst, since it has the potential to remove one of the biggest blemishes on the Indonesian military.

Second, the tsunami itself gave the United States an excuse to say that the Indonesian military had proved how wonderful it was by helping out the victims of the tragedy, even though it blocked some of the aid for the intended recipients.

The Indonesian military has also supposedly helped in tracking down some terrorists. But John Roosa of the University of British Columbia points out that the military has been complicit in building up some of these groups, and that it is the Indonesian police that has solved the terrorism cases, not the Indonesian armed forces.

"The State Department's move ignores that the Indonesian military has helped organize, funded and otherwise supported Islamic terror groups such as Laskar Jihad," Roosa says. "The Bali bombs, the Mariott [Hotel] bombs [in Jakarta in August 2003]—all of these cases are being solved by the police. The military has had no role. This whole idea of backing the military to deal with terrorists is bogus. It's not necessary."

So, the actual biggest reason for the move is that the Bush Administration wants to cultivate the most important institution in the largest Muslim country in the world, a nation with vast geostrategic and economic importance in the post-September 11 world.

The State Department hints at this in its announcement on the issue, invoking "national security" as a justification for its step. "As the world's most populous majority-Muslim nation," it says, "Indonesia is a voice of moderation in the Islamic world. It also plays a key role in guaranteeing security in the strategic sea lanes in Asia and is a leading member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations."

The Bush Administration has again shown that, notwithstanding the President’s rhetoric, human rights are of minimal concern to the White House.

Amitabh Pal is the Managing Editor of The Progressive magazine.

© 2005 The Progressive