Indonesia Tells the U.S. It Has an Image Problem

This nation’s defense minister warned Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday that Asia’s Muslims increasingly believed the U.S. was trying to use its economic and military power to dictate terms for carrying out the war on terrorism, a perception that risks alienating the very countries the Bush administration needs as allies.

In unusually blunt language after an hourlong meeting here with Rumsfeld, Juwono Sudarsono said some Muslim nations saw the U.S. as a threat to global stability, and he suggested the administration should allow national governments to come up with their own strategies to deal with Islamist extremism.

“The sun never sets on the back of an American GI,” Sudarsono said, noting that the $12-trillion U.S. economy allows it to be ubiquitous around the globe. “It’s best that you leave the main responsibility of anti-terrorist measures to the local government in question and not be overly insistent about immediate results arising from your perception about terrorists.”

The admonishment comes amid a delicate and occasionally halting attempt by the administration to foster closer ties with Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation. The U.S., particularly the Pentagon, has been assiduously courting Indonesia’s democratic government in the hope that this secular country can serve as a bulwark against radical Islam in the region.

Rumsfeld continued to press the effort Tuesday during a short visit to the archipelago’s capital, vowing to resume delivery of spare military parts and increase training of the armed forces, programs that had been barred until last year because of Indonesia’s harsh treatment of civilians in East Timor a decade ago.

But continued popular unease about the U.S.-led war in Iraq has made it difficult for the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to fully embrace American overtures.

For example, Sudarsono continued the country’s standoffish approach to President Bush’s Proliferation Security Initiative, a pact in which nations agree to share information on potential trafficking of unconventional weapons material on the high seas.

Senior U.S. officials traveling with Rumsfeld said they had explained to Indonesian leaders that the initiative was merely an agreement on principles, not a binding alliance. But Sudarsono said Jakarta remained concerned that the program, which Indonesia promised to study, would violate the nation’s sovereignty. Indonesia’s coastal waters are among the most heavily used by weapons traffickers.

Officials also responded cautiously to Rumsfeld’s promise of spare parts for the country’s hobbled cargo aircraft fleet and aging F-16 fighters. The U.S. did not sell parts to Indonesia during the decade-long ban on military trade.

The ban was lifted last year, and that status must be renewed annually by Congress, where some members remain concerned that Indonesians involved in military atrocities in East Timor have not been brought to justice. Rumsfeld acknowledged that Congress might yet reimpose the ban, and Sudarsono said Indonesia would continue to purchase Russian-made fighters as a hedge.

Despite the wariness, the Pentagon effort toward closer ties has been helped by wide-ranging and high-profile U.S. military assistance during the 2004 tsunami and last month’s earthquake on Java island. The aid operations improved American standing throughout the country.

The shift in attitude was most apparent during Rumsfeld’s stop at Jakarta’s National Archives Building, an 18th century Dutch colonial estate recently restored as a museum and cultural center. Director Tamalia Alisjahbana showed Rumsfeld a display illustrating historical ties between the two countries, then emotionally thanked him for the U.S. assistance during the two recent disasters.

“We know what country came first and brought the most,” Alisjahbana said.

“Something has changed” in Indonesian perceptions, the director said. “Mr. Rumsfeld, on behalf of the Indonesian people, please accept our love.”

During Rumsfeld’s three-country swing through the region, which ends today with his departure to a NATO meeting in Brussels, the defense secretary has acknowledged his concern over growing anti-American sentiment among Asian Muslims. He has urged government leaders to help shape public opinion.

Indonesia has been one of the major victims of Islamist terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. A pair of nightclub bombings on the resort island of Bali killed 202 people in 2002, many of them Australian tourists.

American officials have been heartened by Yudhoyono’s pursuit of Jemaah Islamiah, the Al Qaeda-linked militant group believed to be behind the bombings. A senior U.S. military official involved in Tuesday’s talks said the Pentagon remained optimistic that the new government, which has been in office less than two years, could emerge as a strong moderating influence in the Muslim world.

However, Indonesia next week is scheduled to release radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah. He has served less than three years in prison in the Bali bombings. Rumsfeld declined to comment.