[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 28 (Thursday, March 10, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E405-E406]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        IN OPPOSITION TO THE CERTIFICATION OF IMET FOR INDONESIA

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 10, 2005

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the 
certification of International

[[Page E406]]

Military Education and Training (IMET) for Indonesia by Secretary Rice. 
Since 2004, Foreign Operations Appropriations legislation has indicated 
that the Secretary of State must determine if Indonesia is eligible to 
receive IMET funds. According to the law, what determines eligibility 
is the cooperation of the Indonesian government and armed forces with 
the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the August 31, 
2002 murders of two American citizens and one Indonesian citizen in 
Timika, Indonesia. Last year, then-Deputy Secretary of State Armitage 
defined ``cooperation'' in the Freeport killings as seeing the case 
through to ``its exhaustion.''
  Yet the present Secretary of State has indicated that she has 
certified IMET for Indonesia, despite the fact that the Indonesian 
authorities have not ``cooperated'' by any definition of the term. In 
July 2004, when U.S. investigators notified Indonesian police that they 
were willing to return to Indonesia to assist in apprehending the only 
person thus far indicted by a U.S. grand jury, Anthonius Wamang, it 
took the Indonesian police well over 6 months to respond. Furthermore, 
Indonesian authorities have not indicted or apprehended Wamang or 
anyone else. For the first 6 months after the indictment was unsealed 
in June 2004, Indonesian police did not inform U.S. investigators as to 
what they were doing in the investigation.
  The cooperation--or lack thereof--of the Indonesian government and 
armed forces with the FBI investigation is further complicated by the 
initial Indonesian police report, as well as NGO and media 
investigations, which pointed to Indonesian military involvement in the 
attack. Wamang also admitted ties to the notorious Special Forces 
Kopassus in a video interview broadcast in Australia.
  Providing IMET now will remove the key U.S. leverage to assure 
justice is done in the Timika case, on the eve of the return of the FBI 
team to Indonesia.
  Congress prohibited full IMET for Indonesia for years because of its 
extremely poor human rights record. Indonesia has yet to fulfill these 
previous conditions on IMET, and human rights violations, especially in 
Aceh and West Papua, continue.
  Furthermore, there has been no justice for war crimes and crimes 
against humanity committed in 1999 in East Timor. The few Indonesian 
trials were a whitewash; not one Indonesian officer has been held 
accountable. Indonesia refuses to extradite anyone, including senior 
military officers, indicted in a separate and credible UN-East Timor 
justice process. On top of that, there are increasing reports of 
militia infiltration into East Timor from Indonesia.
  The Indonesian armed forces--TNI--are massively corrupt and have 
direct ties to terrorist groups. The TNI engages in drug running, 
illegal logging, extortion of U.S. and other domestic and foreign 
firms, and human trafficking, among others. A number of Islamic 
jihadist militia that have terrorized and killed thousands within 
Indonesia collaborate with and are even empowered by the TNI. The TNI 
operates a shadow government extending from the central government down 
to the village level. It continues to resist subordination to civilian 
authority and is a threat to democracy in Indonesia.
  While the amount of money for IMET may be small, it has tremendous 
symbolic value. The Indonesian military will view any restoration of 
IMET as an endorsement of business as usual, not as a reward for 
extremely limited reforms.

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