Indonesia to US get out!

Great job bi!

Very reasonable on the surface Piffka.

BUT

what we have to realise is that the invasion of Iraq has left lots of Muslims really believing that the US (and Oz and the UK) are really out to destroy them

And why - given the debacle in Iraq - should they be shat upon for thinking this?

dlowan wrote:

Very reasonable on the surface Piffka.

BUT

what we have to realise is that the invasion of Iraq has left lots of Muslims really believing that the US (and Oz and the UK) are really out to destroy them

And why - given the debacle in Iraq - should they be shat upon for thinking this?

Shat upon? Because I question their motives? You haven't seen ****, if you think that stinks. I offered a very mild-mannered criticism of a country who wants help, needs help, yet doesn't want it if it comes from the West. Their top interests are to control the Aceh GAM and maintain face, not rebuild after the disaster. I think they see this disaster as a godsend in their fight against the people of Aceh. What a great way to put down a rebellion.

Indonesia has been paranoid and politicizing this disaster practically since it happened. For example, this news c/o London Times was from more than a week ago...

You drunk, ehBeth?

US Military Sees Its Tsunami Work Winding Down
Sat Jan 15, 2005 03:37 PM ET

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - The U.S. military, a leading force behind relief efforts in tsunami-hit nations, said on Saturday it expected to end major work in Thailand and Sri Lanka within two weeks but to stay longer in Indonesia.

More shopping markets reopened, fishermen received new boats and even the sea was given a clean-up as people in the Indian Ocean region set about repairing the damage from the Dec. 26 tsunami and restoring normal life.

U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz flew over Indonesia's worst-hit Aceh province, where the tsunami killed about two-thirds of the total global death toll of more than 162,000, and told reporters he was shocked at the devastation.

"I thought I was prepared for it, and I honestly wasn't -- the enormous extent of it, the complete desolation," he said.

U.S. military commanders briefed Wolfowitz, saying Thailand and Sri Lanka would soon be able to cope on their own.

"We see ourselves in a position to make that transition in a week or two," Lieutenant General Robert Blackman told Wolfowitz at U-tapao Royal Thai Naval base south of Bangkok.

Officers said it would take slightly longer in Indonesia.

The United States has deployed some 15,000 servicemen, ships and helicopters to deliver emergency aid to tsunami-ravaged countries round the Indian Ocean, mostly to Aceh.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, is sensitive about having a large multinational military presence in Aceh, an area riven by a separatist conflict, and wants U.S., Japanese, Australian and other forces to leave by April.

JAKARTA DEADLINE

Wolfowitz, U.S. ambassador to Indonesia in the late 1980s, said Washington had no problem with Jakarta setting a deadline because it was a goal to take over all aid work.

Politics and war hinder tsunami aid

IAN MATHER
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT


AS THE international community directs its resources to helping the victims of the tsunami that claimed more than 150,000 lives, the leaders of the hardest hit countries have returned to their normal agendas of politics, separatist war and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.

Disturbing squabbles over the $1bn aid money raised around the world could reignite civil conflicts in two of the worst hit countries.

The Aceh province of Sumatra in Indonesia bore the brunt of the tsunami, with more than 110,000 dead.

International pressure and the utter devastation in Aceh have offered a short window of opportunity for the government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels, who have been fighting each other for decades, to work out a political solution and help rehabilitate shattered Aceh.

But already that window looks set to close as the Indonesian army continues its build-up of troops in the province.

Indonesia is once more becoming a battleground between Muslims and Christians - a severe challenge for the government, since the country is the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Away from Aceh, the government is also fighting the Islamic rebels of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, who demand an independent Islamic homeland in Maguindanao Province on the southern Indonesian island of Mindanao.

As a result, the government is sensitive to growing criticism of the presence of foreigners from hardline Islamic fundamentalist groups. Aceh has the highest proportion of Muslims in Indonesia, and is one of the few Indonesian regions that has instituted Islamic law.

In recent years, fighting between Muslims and Christians has killed thousands, and many churches have been bombed and burned. Yet the cash-strapped government has thrown open the doors to foreign aid groups, resulting in an influx of religious groups ranging from Islamic militants linked to al-Qaeda, to evangelical Christians.

Muslim radicals can be seen handing out copies of the Koran with bags of rice and sugar, while some aid groups from Christian countries have been accused of seeking to convert survivors from the disaster.

William Suhanda, an Indonesian belonging to the Christian group Light of Love For Aceh, said that he wanted to take 50 children to a Christian orphanage "to expose them to Christian values".

The government has indicated that it wants a lasting truce with separatists in Aceh, where more than 700,000 were made homeless.

Foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda said last week in Berlin: "There have been gentlemen's agreements between Indonesian forces and the Free Aceh Movement. We are also in the midst of exploring the possibility of making reconciliation between the two sides of the conflict."

But on the ground things look as though they are reverting to hostilities before the tsunami struck. Indonesia has now imposed a deadline of March 26 for all foreign troops to leave the country and is moving more of its own troops into Aceh.

Indonesia's influential Muslim council warned last week that there would be a widespread Muslim backlash if international aid groups working in Aceh begin proselytising and adopting children orphaned by the disaster.

Dien Syamsuddin, secretary-general of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas, said proselytising by any non-governmental organisation - either domestic or international - was not welcome. "We do not like hidden agendas," he said.

"This is a reminder. Do not do this in this kind of situation. The Muslim community will not remain quiet. This a clear statement, and it is serious."

Washington, which has the largest foreign presence with about 13,000 troops, was relaxed in its response to the Indonesian deadline.

State department spokesman Richard Boucher said last week: "Nobody is asking us to go home. The Indonesian statement about three months, they tell us, was intended as an estimate about how long the military part of the operation might be necessary."

Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka, where 30,000 died, disputes have erupted over the distribution of aid to the north-east of the country, which is under the control of the Tamil Tigers, who are struggling against the central government to establish an autonomous administration.

The Tigers claim that little aid has been sent to their areas, where the problems are compounded by 20 years of civil war - and the resulting neglect of the infrastructure.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga disputed the Tigers' claim, insisting that the government had sent more aid to rebel-controlled areas than to the Sinhala-dominated south.

Peace talks stalled in April 2003, but a ceasefire agreed in February 2002 remains in force. Adding to the bitterness are allegations that the Tigers have returned to their previous bad habits and are recruiting children into their army from relief camps set up after the tsunami.

Unicef, the UN's children's agency, said it had monitored the cases of three girls who had been recruited by the rebels.

"We have enough proof that these children went missing from the camps and are now with the Tamil Tigers," the head of Unicef in Sri Lanka, Ted Chaiban, said last week.

Unicef estimates the Tamil Tigers are holding about 1,300 child soldiers. It said that having to monitor child recruitment was diverting resources that it could be using to help children affected by the tsunami.

The Tigers have repeatedly denied that they are still recruiting under-age fighters

For India, which lost 10,000 of its citizens, the tsunami disaster is increasingly perceived as an opportunity to reinforce the country's image as a dominant player in the region, and demonstrate its growing wealth, strength and confidence.

As soon as the tragedy struck, prime minister Manmohan Singh announced that India would not accept foreign aid because the country had sufficient resources to mount its own reconstruction effort as well as to help other countries caught up in the disaster.

On the same day India's relief diplomacy began. An Indian navy aircraft landed in Sri Lanka to begin Operation Rainbow. This was followed by other relief operations in the Maldives and Indonesia.

"The idea was to be the first to mount rescue efforts in south-east Asia," said vice-admiral Raman Puri, chief of India's integrated defence staff committee.

The US invited India to join it in a US-led "coalition of the willing" with Australia and Japan to streamline relief efforts, and India accepted.

India's motives go beyond the purely humanitarian. Delhi wants to demonstrate that it has the status to merit a permanent seat on the UN Security Council - an ambition for which it needs the support of the international community, particularly the US.

Last week, having made its point, India announced that it was prepared to accept aid.

Thailand also insists that it does not need international aid, despite a loss of life totalling 5,300. Instead, Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is calling on the international community to provide more aid to other countries hit by the tsunami.

When the world's leading creditor governments agreed a debt repayment freeze last week for the tsunami-hit nations, Thailand was excluded at its own request.

Thaksin said: "Thailand can take care of herself and needs no help from other countries, whether it's cash or material aid.

The Thai government has even excluded the big Western aid agencies from the relief effort.

"We need an equal status in working with other countries on the international political stage," he added.

"We will be inferior and our credibility will be downgraded if we beg for help from everyone. Countries can help us through other means."