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Gates to meet Yudhoyono in whirlwind defense visit
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is scheduled to visit Jakarta for a one-day blitzkrieg of meetings with the President and several top officials, though no date has been set for the meetings
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S Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is scheduled to visit Jakarta for a one-day blitzkrieg of meetings with the President and several top officials, though no date has been set for the meetings.
Deputy to the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs minister Rear Marshall Sagom Tamboen said Wednesday the minister was scheduled to accompany President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to meet Gates.
Defense Ministry spokesman I Wayan Midhio said Gates would meet Yudhoyono, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto and Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro in their respective offices.
“There will be a bilateral meeting between the two defense ministers here at the ministry,” Wayan told The Jakarta Post.
The duo are expected to follow up the recently signed framework arrangement and focus on key issues, he said.
Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal did not respond to the Post’s inquiries by Wednesday evening and no official statement has been released by the US Embassy in Jakarta on Gates’ trip.
Wayan declined to comment when asked if the two ministers would discuss the participation of the Indonesian Army’s Special Forces (Kopassus) in joint military drills.
The framework arrangement was signed last month by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia Policy Robert M. Scher and the Indonesian Defense Ministry’s director general for defense strategy, Maj. Gen. Syarifudin Tippe.
The agreement established a framework for defense cooperation on logistics, joint drills, officer exchange education programs, a security dialogue, the defense industry and equipment procurement, among other areas.
The agreement did not specify if Kopassus would participate in joint operations or other activities.
Kopassus has been barred from participating in joint military activities because of human rights violations in West Papua and Timor Leste (then East Timor), where its soldiers allegedly killed more than 100 unarmed civilians, including two US citizens, and injured dozens. This has led to a US arms sales embargo.
Some experts maintain that the US encouraged Indonesia’s use of lethal force against civilians in East Timor.
University of Indonesia military expert Andi Widjajanto said it would be useless to bring allegations of Kopassus human rights violations to the surface because the US State Department, not the US Department of Defense, has the authority to lift the ban.
However involving Kopassus in joint military activities with the US would help “normalize” the bilateral military relations, he said.
A researcher with the Defense and Maritime Study Forum Alman Helvas Ali said Indonesia should raise issues of sharing maritime security intelligence after the US granted Indonesia eight radar stations placed in the Malacca Strait and three in Celebes Sea. “We need intelligence from America… this is a very important thing to maintain regional stability,” he told the Post.
“They should share with us information on any ships, their cargos and destinations when in Indonesian waters.”
