[ppi] [ppiindia] Indonesia opens fire

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**http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/GI28Ae01.html

 Sep 28, 2005 
  

Indonesia opens fire
By Jeffrey Robertson

On September 19 the Indonesian Navy fired on a Chinese fishing vessel poaching 
in Indonesian waters - the most recent event in a series of recurring violent 
outbreaks that say a lot about the changing role of the military in modern 
Indonesia. 

The Fuyuan 123 was one of four Chinese-flagged fishing vessels allegedly using 
illegal nets and poaching valuable marine resources from the Arafura Sea, off 
Papua province and within Indonesia's exclusive economic zone. After a short 
chase, the refusal of the Fuyuan 123 to stop and several warning shots, the 
Indonesian Navy fired on the vessel. The result was one dead sailor and two 
wounded. 

In the pursuing diplomatic row between China and Indonesia, the illegality of 
the Fuyuan 123 was never questioned. Its license to

 

fish in Indonesian waters had expired a week before the incident. The focus of 
China's anger was the Indonesian Navy. China claimed Indonesian naval forces 
had used "excessive force" in the pursuit of the fishing boat - just as they 
have recently been doing from one side of the archipelago to the other. 

In March, Indonesian military forces went on high alert over the disputed 
maritime border with Malaysia. The navy was in the lead of what could only be 
considered as the closest Indonesia and Malaysia have come to conflict since 
the end of Konfrontasi (Indonesia's 1963-66 effort to disrupt the new state of 
Malaysia, which Indonesian leaders regarded as a front for a continued British 
colonial presence in Southeast Asia). 

The dispute, which saw the deployment of warships, infantry reinforcements and 
even four F-16 fighter jets, was over the Sulawesi Sea maritime border, just 
off Indonesia's East Kalimantan province and Malaysia's Sabah state. At the 
heart of the dispute was of course the resource-rich seabed beneath the 
disputed border areas. But bubbling over the surface was the Indonesian 
military asserting its sovereignty in a display of nationalistic fervor. 

Other recent incidents may have as much to do with displays of naval strength 
as designs for naval profiteering. Local officers' desire for a little extra 
income is always an issue in such a large and sometimes inadequately paid 
military. In September 2004 an Indonesian naval vessel approached and sought to 
board a tourist diving vessel in East Timorese territory, off Atauro Island. 
Whether it was a display of naval strength against the fledgling and recently 
independent East Timor, or just a little off-the-record piracy, will never be 
known. 

East Timor played down the incident, citing the current permeability of the 
East Timorese-Indonesia border. Negotiations on setting the border have been 
ongoing since 2000. The Indonesian Foreign Ministry and its naval command in 
Jakarta denied knowledge of the incident. The most obvious conclusion is that 
even if boarded, the tourist vessel could well have gotten off with an on the 
spot "fine". 

But the navy has also been at the forefront of more obvious and blatantly 
ostentatious demonstrations of Indonesian sovereignty. In May 2002, six navy 
ships and more than 120 troops accompanied Indonesian president Megawati 
Sukarnoputri to East Timor's inaugural independence ceremony. With foreign 
dignitaries such as United States president Bill Clinton, Australian Prime 
Minister John Howard and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan 
maintaining a security presence counted in the dozens, the Indonesian entourage 
seemed excessive at best, and an outright affront at worst. 

Increasing professionalism or restraining modernization?
The Indonesian military has an important choice to make. As the military's role 
in Indonesia inevitably declines with strengthened democracy, the military can 
follow one of two paths - toward an increasingly professional and respected 
military under civilian control or toward a distrusted, feared and ultimately 
despised military restraining Indonesian modernization. 

The former has already demonstrated limited success. The military has proven 
particularly restrained in its presence in West Papua despite secessionist 
elements ramping up efforts in the wake of East Timor and Aceh rebellions. On 
October 10, the Papuan People's Assembly will commence work. The establishment 
of the assembly aims to empower indigenous Papuans and deflate local support 
for separatism while simultaneously avoiding the need for overt military 
involvement. As Aceh and East Timor have demonstrated, overt military 
involvement only hardens local populations against central control. 
There is also hope the military will be attracted to the first path through 
potential gains in training and resource cooperation with external powers. The 
United States is keenly watching the human rights situation across the 
archipelago with the intention of reestablishing military cooperation with 
Indonesia. This has the potential to provide a much-needed morale boost as well 
as a guiding influence toward greater professionalism. 

But the threat remains that as the role of the military declines, reactionary 
elements will seek to encourage conditions that support the latter path. 

As if predicting such moves, in a speech to higher ranking officers on 
September 8, during a visit to military headquarters, Indonesian President 
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono emphasized the need for the Indonesian military to 
remain professional and refrain from political acts. 

Morale in the Indonesian military has been in steady decline since democracy 
ended the long rule of the Suharto family and its associated military backers. 
Arguably, it took its harshest blow with the loss of East Timor. But it is now 
facing another crushing blow with the peace settlement in Aceh. As the troop 
ships depart Banda Aceh, the most prevalent expression on soldiers' faces is 
that of shame. With this shame comes threat that the Indonesian military will 
look to other areas to distract it from the inevitable decline in morale 
following the Aceh pullout. One such distraction could be maritime Southeast 
Asia. 

However, this could prove highly dangerous. Maritime Southeast Asia is a 
bubbling cauldron of potential misunderstanding - a combination of resource 
wealth, overlapping territorial claims and preciously guarded post-colonial 
sovereignty. If it were not the Indonesian Navy jealously protecting its 
sovereignty over fishing rights, it may as well have been Malaysia and Brunei, 
Taiwan and the Philippines or China and just about anyone. The fact is that the 
region could potentially prove to be the greatest threat to regional security. 
Unlike the Taiwan Straits where the potential for conflict is widely 
appreciated and problems are dealt with both carefully and consistently, 
maritime Southeast Asia is hostage to populist decisions and only intermittent 
half-hearted attempts to defuse tensions. 

How it responds to incidents in maritime Southeast Asia, such as the Fuyuan 123 
incident, may prove to be the real indicator of which path the Indonesian 
military will take. 

Jeffrey Robertson is a political affairs analyst focusing on Northeast Asia, 
currently based in Seoul. 

(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us 
for information on sales, syndication and republishing.) 

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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