Washington - Indonesia's Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab on Tuesday called on the United States to lift a ban on military aid, warning the restriction had crippled his government's battle against separatism.
A day after meeting top officials including Secretary of State Colin Powell, Shihab said it was time for US-Indonesian relations to move on from the trauma caused by East Timor's bloody struggle for independence.
Shihab told a major conference on Indonesian-US ties at the US Congress that "bilateral military cooperation" must be normalised.
"The suspension of US military assistance to Indonesia has resulted in the curtailment of the Indonesian military's ability to help the National Police in emergency situations," he said.
"It has eroded the capability of Indonesia to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity -- when it is to the interest of the United States and the Asia-Pacific region that such sovereignty and territorial integrity be effectively protected."
US military aid was suspended by the administration of former president Bill Clinton, after Indonesia's armed forces were implicated in a storm of violence which followed East Timor's vote for independence in 1999.
The US embassy in Jakarta was last week forced to issue a statement clarifying the US stance after the Washington Post wrote in an editorial that some members of the new Bush administration were mulling renewing help.
The military, the paper said would be a "decisive power broker" if, as many fear, the battle over President Abdurrahman Wahid's struggle to stay in power turned violent.
But Powell on Monday told Shihab that any US role in Indonesia's internal political situation was "unthinkable," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
In his speech, Shihab called on Washington to ensure its policy towards Indonesia, which he called the world's "third largest democracy," complied with geopolitical realities and was not "media driven."
"The political commmunity on both sides of the relationship need to appreciate more that a strong and stable US-Indonesian relations is in the national interests of both sides."
The stress on national interest appeared to be aimed at the new US administration, and a hint that campaigners who oppose military aid on the grounds that the armed forces are involved in grevious human rights abuses.
As well as his meetings on Monday with Powell, Shihab also met National Security Advisor Condeleezza Rice and Deputy Secretary for Defense Paul Wolfowitz.