Indonesian minister defends pact with Singapore

The Straits Times, May 29, 2007
By Salim Osman, Indonesia Correspondent


JAKARTA - INDONESIAN Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono said the country's armed forces stood to benefit from better cooperation with Singapore under a defence pact signed last month.

He told a parliamentary hearing of the Defence and Foreign Affairs Commission in the House of Representatives (DPR) that the pact was not a form of compensation to Singapore for having agreed to tie up the extradition treaty.

'From the start, it has been agreed that the extradition treaty is linked to the defence cooperation agreement,' he said.

As to why Parliament was not involved in discussions on the two treaties, he said: 'This is a government-to-government negotiation, and (it is) not possible to include the DPR.'

He made it clear that Indonesian officials were still holding talks with their Singapore counterparts on implementation details under the defence pact.

Although the two agreements were signed in Bali last month, they cannot be implemented until details of the implementation agreements for the defence treaty are agreed to by both sides.

He likened the two treaties to bargaining between 'ruang' (space in Bahasa Indonesia) and 'wang' (money).

He was referring to Singapore wanting Indonesia to give it the space to conduct its military training and Jakarta wanting to recover funds siphoned off by corrupt businessmen.

More than 20 legislators yesterday spoke against the defence pact during the first hearing on the two treaties.

The parliamentary commission will be calling Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda to brief members on the extradition treaty.

While many wanted Jakarta to revoke the defence pact, which they said benefited Singapore more than Indonesia, some legislators from the Golkar party and the Democrat party, two key supporters of the government, suggested the treaty be renegotiated.

Mr Yuddy Chrisnandi of Golkar said: 'It will not put Indonesia in a good light if we were to terminate this international agreement. Indonesia will lose its credibility. We prefer that it be renegotiated so that Indonesians can get more benefits out of such an agreement.'

A lawmaker from the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party - Struggle, Mr Permadi, said Indonesia should treat Singapore as an enemy because of what had happened in the past - Singapore's hanging of two marines in 1968 for planting a bomb in MacDonald House on Orchard Road, and its giving refuge to corrupt bankers and businessmen.

Responding to the criticism, Dr Juwono said that if some Indonesians felt allowing Singapore's military to use their territory would compromise the country's security, Singapore, too, might harbour similar feelings about the security risk involved in the defence pact.

He said: 'The risk for Singapore is that it has to allow access to its latest military technology, including the enhancement of professionalism among our soldiers through access to its training facilities, including its simulators.'

The armed forces chief, Air Chief Marshal Djoko Suyanto, told the hearing that it was in Indonesia's interest to open up and extend defence cooperation with many countries, including Singapore.

He acknowledged that Indonesia's armed forces were less equipped with sophisticated weapons and other military hardware than Singapore's.

He said: 'If we want to enhance our professionalism, we have to open up so that we are not left behind in the field of military technology.'