Indonesia's armed forces set to stop protecting foreign firms
The military's announcement that it wants to stop guarding the Freeport mine in Papua - and other foreign facilities in Indonesia - is retaliation against US pressure to conduct a proper investigation into last year's fatal ambush of two Americans at the mine, analysts said.
The head of the Indonesian armed forces, General Endriartono Sutarto, said last week that the military no longer wanted to provide security for the giant Freeport-McMoran gold and copper mine. Neither did it want to protect any other foreign gas, oil and mining facilities. He said the armed forces were not guns for private hire.
General Endriartono denied the move was connected to the American decision to withhold military aid until US authorities suitably investigated the Freeport attack. He said the military should not be 'scapegoated' for incidents at foreign installations.
In the attack on Freeport employees in August last year, two Americans and one Indonesian were killed.
The announcement, along with an assertion that foreign assets were unlikely to come under attack in the next five years, surprised analysts.
