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Indonesia military takes aim at image
From CNN Correspondent Atika Shubert
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Meet Indonesia's new and improved military -- or at least the military senior officers would like the public to see. In the latest slick advertising campaign, the troops are courteous humanitarians: helping farmers out of a landslide. They are professional even in the heat of combat, saving innocent villagers before crushing separatist rebels. They are also devout and interdenominational: the camera zooms in on soldiers at Muslim prayers then switches to a Catholic soldier teaching young children. All are images designed to combat what advocacy groups describe as the military's long-standing record of systematic human rights abuses. One of Indonesia's military generals insists the transformation is genuine. "This public service announcement is one way to transform the military's image. It is our response to concerns about human rights, about military professionalism. This announcement is one way to show that the military has reformed," said Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin. But critics such as Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group remain skeptical. "Military reform is dead. It's completely dead. "I think they believe they have a mission to defend Indonesia's territorial integrity and that the civilians have allowed everything to turn into chaos and that they're needed -- even though it's very clear that it's the military in some cases that's responsible for the fissures in Indonesian society." Accusations have been leveled that military behavior on the ground is very different from that portrayed on the screen. During the ongoing campaign against separatist rebels in the province of Aceh, human rights groups say troops are committing robberies, rapes and indiscriminate killings of civilians, including children. The military has denied any indiscriminate killings and promised to try any soldiers accused of wrongdoing. Two Indonesian soldiers were recently convicted in sexual assault cases in Aceh. Covering the conflict in Aceh, CNN witnessed villagers subjected to frequent abuse by troops. "I still think that the operations now are probably marginally better conducted than previous counter insurgency operations," Jones says. "That said, I do not think this is a clean operation. I think there are serious problems of abuse of the civilian population taking place." Those comments are in sharp contrast to staged scenes like one in the advertisement in which disciplined troops hold their fire against Aceh rebels in order to rescue villagers first. Senior officers say the campaign reflects the new and improved professionalism among its troops. But critics are skeptical. They say bringing military abuses to justice would do more to win the public's trust.
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