Bush Administration resumes military training with Indonesia
The Bush Administration has lifted the United States’ thirteen-year suspension on training with the Indonesian Military, or TNI. The US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, stated over the weekend that the resumption of training will help to fight the War on Terrorism in South-East Asia, and foster democratic reform in the Indonesian archipelago. Since the fall of President Suharto in 1998, Indonesia has made considerable improvements in terms of the accountability of the civilian government in Indonesia. However, according to many commentators, in some parts of the country the military still rules with an Iron Fist and regularly violate citizen’s human rights. 2SER’s Ed Giles asked Max Lane, from the Asia Research Center at Murdoch University in Western Australia – how the United States has been able to ignore its own legislation banning co-operations with the Indonesian military.