Australia, Indonesia to End Special Forces Ban

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The threat of regional terrorism has forced an end to a seven-year ban on military contact between Australian special forces and Indonesia’s elite Kopassus unit, with the two forces set to train together in early 2006.

Australia cut links with Kopassus in 1999 after the former Indonesian territory of East Timor voted for independence, sparking a spree of violence by pro-Jakarta militias backed by Indonesian military elements.

"In this era of heightened terrorist threats, it is in Australia’s interests to engage with regional special forces, such as Kopassus, to safeguard the lives of Australians," Defense Minister Robert Hill said on Sunday.

Hill said Australia’s Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment and Kopassus’ counter-terrorism Unit 81 would stage a two-week exercise in Australia in early 2006 called "Dawn Kookaburra" which would focus on counter-hijack and hostage recovery.

"Kopassus Unit 81 has the most effective capability to respond to a counter-hijack or hostage recovery threat in Indonesia," Hill said in a statement.

"In the event of a terrorist incident, the safety of Australians in Indonesia could well rest on effective cooperation between TNI (Indonesia’s armed forces) and the ADF (Australian Defence Force)," he said.

"That is a step forward and shows willingness for positive cooperation," Colonel Achmad Yani Basuki, an Indonesian military spokesman, said in Jakarta when asked about the development. He declined further comment.

Scores of Australians have been killed in bombings in Indonesia in the past few years. In 2002, 88 Australians were among 202 people killed by nightclub bombings on the resort island of Bali. Another four Australians were killed in Bali in October 2005 when three suicide bombers attacked restaurants.

In 2004, a suicide car bomb exploded outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, killing 10 Indonesians.

Australia, a staunch U.S. ally with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, has never suffered a major peacetime attack on home soil. The country has been on medium security alert since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

In light of the 2002 Bali bombings, Australia announced a year later that it would renew links with Kopassus, but the closer ties collapsed due to restrictions on the training imposed by Australia.

An Australian think tank report released a year ago found Kopassus had not reformed and urged the Australian Defence Force not to renew ties.

The report by the Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre said Kopassus had not changed from its history of illegal operations and human rights abuses.

Kopassus earned a notorious reputation for its alleged role in the torture and abduction of dissidents during former autocrat Suharto’s 32-year rule of Indonesia that ended in chaos in 1998.

The last training exercise between Australian military and Kopassus took place in 1997.

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