In September 1999, the Indonesian armed forces reached perhaps its lowest point in its proud but controversial history. As Indonesian soldiers went on a burning, pillaging and murder rampage in the province of East Timor after it voted for independence, then-United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan warned that its actions could constitute 'crimes against humanity'.
UN prosecutors in Dili later indicted seven acting or retired Indonesian army generals to stand trial there for war crimes, including former armed forces commander in chief General Wiranto. But the UN was rebuffed by the Indonesian government, which refused to hand over the generals or offer apologies for their conduct, further staining the military's international reputation.
But what a difference a decade makes. East Timor, which went on to become an independent nation in 2002, now enjoys extremely close diplomatic relations with Indonesia. And the Indonesian military? It is the toast of the town in certain corridors of the UN headquarters in New York.
During a visit to Jakarta last week, Alain Le Roy, the UN undersecretary general for peacekeeping, praised the Indonesian government and military, known as the TNI, for pledging to become among the top 10 contributing nations to UN peacekeeping operations.
'We welcome that,' Le Roy said, adding that he was fully confident about Indonesian officers and soldiers serving in more UN operations.
'I must say that with Indonesia, we don't have any difficulties because they select the soldiers themselves, and they check that the soldiers sent to peacekeeping have completely clear records, especially relating to human rights,' he said. 'So we don't have any difficulty with that because now it's clear that these days human rights are a very important ideal for Indonesia.'