June 2nd 2002
Delegates at Asia's major security conference have supported Singapore's call for the US to engage Indonesia's military.
Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew had urged that the secular TNI be helped along to reform itself and become a key institution to hold Indonesia together.
This is especially important in the context of Indonesia's role in fighting terrorism in the region.
SM Lee made the call at the opening of the conference in Singapore on Friday night.
SM Lee felt that the American re-engagement of the TNI could be the answer to Indonesia's stability, especially with the country's presidential elections coming in 2004.
Picking up the issue, Indonesia's Defence Minister Matori Abdul Djalil said the TNI could be strengthened to fight terrorism, because the police couldn't go it alone.
He said: "Indonesia still lacks all resources it needs in order to improve the capability of TNI. Support from the international community in this area is clearly needed."
Najib Tun Razak, Malaysian Defence Minister, said: "I believe America should reinstate the IMET (International Military Education and Training) programme to assist in the redevelopment of TNI, not the old TNI, but reformed TNI. TNI is pivotal to the stability of Indonesia. We should not allow TNI to degenerate and lose its credibility."
Besides boosting the TNI, defence ministers at the conference also discussed other ways to tackle the terrorist threat.
These include: starving terrorists of their funds, expanding defence arrangements like the Five Power Defence Arrangement (FPDA) to train Asians on fighting terrorism, fighting poverty, a potential root of discontent that fuels terrorism.
The region's defence ministers are unanimous on the need to work together, but some have raised the real challenge of having to balance the sensitivities of a majority Muslim population.
So, while it's clear that there is the political will, it's also clear that to take this through to concrete action, a lot more work is needed.
