bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

The Australian government has come under fire for its decision to resume training links between its  military and Indonesia's notorious Kopassus special forces.

The Prime Minister, John Howard, said that although Kopassus had been accused of committing serious human rights abuses in now-independent East Timor, Aceh and Papua, it was the only part of the Indonesian security services to have a credible counter-terrorism capability.

Australia is anxious to bolster its counter-terrorism ties in the wake of last October's Bali bombings and last week's attack on the Marriott hotel in Jakarta.

But the opposition Labor Party's foreign affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd, said that Australia should instead work with the Indonesian national police in the fight against terrorism.

He said a senior Australian government official admitted last November that informal links existed between Kopassus and radical Islamic terror groups such as Laskar Jihad, which has been blamed for sparking violence between Christians and Muslims on the island of Ambon.

'The bottom line is this - nine months ago, John Howard's government confirmed to the Australian Senate that Kopassus had links with terrorist organisations,' Mr Rudd said.

'Is John Howard now saying that what the Australian government said to the Senate at that time is no longer applicable, no longer accurate?'

Joint training exercises between Australia's SAS special forces and Kopassus were suspended in 1998 due to the latter's support for violent anti-independence militias in East Timor.

Mr Howard said cultivating closer ties with Kopassus could save Australian lives in the event of a terrorist attack or hostage-taking incident in Indonesia. 'There is a capacity within that organisation to deal with hijacking and terrorist situations,' he said. 'Those who oppose the links, like Mr Rudd, are really saying that even if Australian lives might be at risk, we [shouldn't] have contact with [Kopassus].'

His remarks were backed up by the chief of the Australian Defence Force, Peter Cosgrove, who said Indonesian national police lacked the skills to deal with a terrorist threat. 'I think it's quite clear at the moment that the [Indonesian police] capability in that regard is at a modest level ... and we've got a real problem, here and now, with terrorism in the region,' General Cosgrove said.

He said the exact nature of the resumed links were being discussed by senior Australian and Indonesian officials.



Howard under fire over Kopassus training