Jakarata — The United States has restored military ties with Indonesia, ending a six-year ban on contact with the world's most populous Muslim country imposed due to human rights concerns, the U.S. State Department said.
The U.S. administration has long argued isolating Indonesia, which has been hit by several bombings by al-Qaeda-linked terrorists in recent years, was not in Washington's strategic interests.
The move, announced Tuesday in Washington, drew immediate criticism from rights groups.
“With the stroke of a pen, Secretary (of State Condoleezza) Rice and President (George W.) Bush betrayed the untold tens of thousands of victims of the Indonesian military's brutality in Indonesia and East Timor,” said John Miller, from the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network.
The U.S. Congress cut ties with Indonesia's military in 1999 after it was accused of taking part in violence in East Timor during that territory's break from Jakarta's rule in a UN-sponsored referendum.
The State Department used a national security waiver to remove the restrictions, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement.
“Indonesia is a voice of moderation in the Islamic world,” he said.
“The administration considers the relationship between the United States and Indonesia, the world's third-largest democracy, to be of the utmost importance,” he said.
He said the administration plans to help modernize the Indonesian military and support U.S. and Indonesian security objectives, including counter-terrorism but Washington “remained committed to pressing for accountability for past human rights abuses.”
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