SAS under fire over Kopassus training

SAS under fire over Kopassus training

By Indonesia correspondent Matt Brown

Updated 8 hours 26 minutes ago
Indonesian soldiers from Kopassus special forces perform at a ceremony in Jakarta

Trained with SAS: Kopassus soldiers in Jakarta (Reuters: Crack Palinggi)

Indonesia's National Human Rights Commission has criticised Australian training for the controversial special forces unit, Kopassus.

Soldiers from Australia's SAS and Kopassus are wrapping up counter-terrorism training after a hostage rescue exercise on Bali yesterday.

Australia's commander of special forces says Kopassus is working hard to overcome the concern about human rights abuses that has blighted its record.

The Human Rights Commission was established by the Indonesian government to highlight serious abuse, and it says Kopassus needs human rights training, not combat drills.

In the past it has investigated and found members of Kopassus implicated in major crimes.

It says Kopassus is changing, but vice-chairman Nur Khollis says the counter-terrorism training provided to Kopassus is not part of the solution.

"I don't think Kopassus needs it right now," he said.

"Because the most important thing for this highly-skilled unit is the knowledge of human rights. This is the main problem in several cases."

Papuan activists, protesting against human rights abuses in their province, have a similar plea.

Papuan student Oktovianus Pogau says Kopassus mistreats people there "right now".

"We respectfully request the Australian Government to stop the cooperation with Kopassus", he said.

Covert unit

The Australian training involved close-quarters fighting yesterday in Bali's international airport as Kopassus soldiers dispatched mock terrorists with ease and rescued their hostages. Several Australian soldiers were among the assault team.

Supporters of the training have argued it does not legitimise or bolster Kopassus as a whole because it is focused on Detachment 81, the counter-terrorism unit.

But the idea that it is sealed off from other sections of Kopassus is a fiction.

The ABC learned that last week - while the SAS was training Detachment 81 for their exercise - another group of officers was in town, studying the terrain.

They were not from Detachment 81, but from Sandi Yudha, the much feared covert warfare and intelligence unit of Kopassus.

For decades the unit has targeted separatists and democracy activists alike.

A week ago in Bali its members were at the airport preparing the way, mapping the terminal and gathering intelligence for their joint exercise with the SAS.

As Kopassus prepares for renewed assistance from the United States military it is reaching out to the National Human Rights Commission for training in civil rights.

It is part of an effort to satisfy American conditions on deeper ties.

The Commission is keen to oblige but vice-chairman Nur Khollis warns real change will not be easy.

"I think the most difficult thing to change is the paradigm," he said.

"It's about learning, an ethos which develops within an organisation, this takes a long time."

He says the commission's efforts to bring human rights abusers to justice have been met with a barrier of resistance and inaction - stretching from Kopassus all the way up to the president of Indonesia.