Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Singapore Straits Times
February 26, 2008 Defence boost for country seen as a secular model for Muslim nations
By Devi Asmarani, Indonesia Correspondent
JAKARTA -- The United States is helping Indonesia upgrade its defence capabilities, strengthening ties with a country it views as a regional leader and secular model for Muslim states.
The move to supply F-16 fighter jets to Jakarta and help modernise its air defence system was announced yesterday, after a meeting between visiting US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
It comes three years after Washington lifted a 13-year military embargo on Jakarta.
Indonesia's Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono told reporters after the meeting that the US has offered to sell six refurbished aircraft to add to Indonesia's ageing fleet of F-16s.
"Of the 10 F-16 aircraft we purchased in the 1976, only four are flying currently," he said. "The US will help upgrade these four and sell us six more F-16s of a later generation - post-1980s - because we feel the need to modernise the fleet to reach parity with our neighbouring countries."
Each of the six refurbished aircraft will cost about $30US million ($42S million), said Dr Juwono, adding that they would be purchased separately within the next five years.
The US will also help repair and upgrade Indonesia's eight Hercules transport aircraft.
At the same time it will provide technical assistance in installing surveillance radar at seven crucial sites on the Malacca Strait to help the Indonesian air force and navy guard the sea lane.
And while the US-Indonesian relationship has not grown as fast as Jakarta would like since the military embargo was lifted, Mr Gates said the US was working to "simplify the bureaucracy" and speed up the development of ties.
"One the last things I said to the President was that we would work with them to help facilitate whatever procurement or upgrades or refurbishing that Indonesia wishes to do," he told a joint press briefing with his Indonesian counterpart after meeting Dr Yudhoyono yesterday.
"A lot of the problems we face are in regulations and statutes, and we are looking at what kind of help we need from the Congress," he added.
The US cut all military ties with Indonesia in 1992 because of Jakarta's alleged human rights abuses in Timor Leste, which was then a province of Indonesia. In 2005 Washington restored all links to Jakarta, citing the need to engage the world's largest Muslim nation in the war on terror.
The friendlier US approach also comes as Russia and China try to forge closer military ties with Indonesia, whose strategic location along critical maritime routes gives it a significant role in maritime security, trade and counter-smuggling activities.
But Mr Gates spoke yesterday of the need to change a 'perceptual lag', as many in Washington do not realise how much Indonesia has changed.
"I don't think there is a full appreciation in the United States... for just how much Indonesia has changed over the past 10 years and how far the reforms have proceeded, particularly in the military," he said.
He cited the military's withdrawal from the political arena as one of the country's major advances that 'could be looked to by many other states around the world'.
Later, in a speech to the Indonesian Council on World Affairs, Mr Gates expanded on the theme, saying: "This country has seen extraordinary changes over the past decade, first and foremost a profound transition from decades of military-dominated rule to its current standing as one of the world's newest and most vital democracies."
Additional information from Bloomberg, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
February 26, 2008 Defence boost for country seen as a secular model for Muslim nations
By Devi Asmarani, Indonesia Correspondent
JAKARTA -- The United States is helping Indonesia upgrade its defence capabilities, strengthening ties with a country it views as a regional leader and secular model for Muslim states.
The move to supply F-16 fighter jets to Jakarta and help modernise its air defence system was announced yesterday, after a meeting between visiting US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
It comes three years after Washington lifted a 13-year military embargo on Jakarta.
Indonesia's Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono told reporters after the meeting that the US has offered to sell six refurbished aircraft to add to Indonesia's ageing fleet of F-16s.
"Of the 10 F-16 aircraft we purchased in the 1976, only four are flying currently," he said. "The US will help upgrade these four and sell us six more F-16s of a later generation - post-1980s - because we feel the need to modernise the fleet to reach parity with our neighbouring countries."
Each of the six refurbished aircraft will cost about $30US million ($42S million), said Dr Juwono, adding that they would be purchased separately within the next five years.
The US will also help repair and upgrade Indonesia's eight Hercules transport aircraft.
At the same time it will provide technical assistance in installing surveillance radar at seven crucial sites on the Malacca Strait to help the Indonesian air force and navy guard the sea lane.
And while the US-Indonesian relationship has not grown as fast as Jakarta would like since the military embargo was lifted, Mr Gates said the US was working to "simplify the bureaucracy" and speed up the development of ties.
"One the last things I said to the President was that we would work with them to help facilitate whatever procurement or upgrades or refurbishing that Indonesia wishes to do," he told a joint press briefing with his Indonesian counterpart after meeting Dr Yudhoyono yesterday.
"A lot of the problems we face are in regulations and statutes, and we are looking at what kind of help we need from the Congress," he added.
The US cut all military ties with Indonesia in 1992 because of Jakarta's alleged human rights abuses in Timor Leste, which was then a province of Indonesia. In 2005 Washington restored all links to Jakarta, citing the need to engage the world's largest Muslim nation in the war on terror.
The friendlier US approach also comes as Russia and China try to forge closer military ties with Indonesia, whose strategic location along critical maritime routes gives it a significant role in maritime security, trade and counter-smuggling activities.
But Mr Gates spoke yesterday of the need to change a 'perceptual lag', as many in Washington do not realise how much Indonesia has changed.
"I don't think there is a full appreciation in the United States... for just how much Indonesia has changed over the past 10 years and how far the reforms have proceeded, particularly in the military," he said.
He cited the military's withdrawal from the political arena as one of the country's major advances that 'could be looked to by many other states around the world'.
Later, in a speech to the Indonesian Council on World Affairs, Mr Gates expanded on the theme, saying: "This country has seen extraordinary changes over the past decade, first and foremost a profound transition from decades of military-dominated rule to its current standing as one of the world's newest and most vital democracies."
Additional information from Bloomberg, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.