Rice urges Indonesian military to do more to reform

JAKARTA, Mar 15 (Reuters) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised Indonesian democracy and leadership today but urged the world's fourth most populous country to make greater efforts to reform its armed forces.

Washington resumed military ties with Indonesia last year, a move criticised by human rights activists who said Indonesia's military, a politically powerful and much feared force in decades past, had a long way to go in changing its ways.

In an address to the Indonesian Council on World Affairs, Rice stressed that a ''reformed and effective'' Indonesian military was in the interests of everyone in the region.

''We look for continued progress toward greater accountability and complete reform,'' she told an audience laden with political, business and media leaders at the end of a two-day visit to the world's most populous Muslim nation.

But she also went out of her way to praise Indonesia for its shift to democracy since the authoritarian Suharto presidency ended under pressure in 1998.

Noting widespread scepticism on whether Indonesia's 220 million people could make the transition to democracy, she said: ''Indonesians silenced these doubts once and for all in the (2004) elections ... a date now remembered as the largest single-day election turnout in human history.'' INDONESIA'S EXAMPLE The United States looks to Indonesia ''as the region's largest country, a founding member of ASEAN, and a rising democracy -- to play a leadership role in Southeast Asia,'' Rice said.

On that score, she complimented Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for help in trying to persuade military-ruled Myanmar to follow Indonesia's democratic example.

An area where Jakarta and Washington disagree is the West Asia.

Indonesia has been a strong critic of US policies on the Palestine issue and in Iraq.

Asked after her speech about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Rice said the only way for it to move forward would be for Hamas to renounce violence and recognise Israel's right to exist and for Israel to be willing to share the land in a two-state solution.

''The world needs Hamas to make a choice for peace and if that choice is made, I am quite certain that peace can in fact be brought to the region,'' she added.

Asked when US troops might leave Iraq, Rice said Iraq was going through a very difficult time but she was optimistic a national unity government would soon be formed.

When Iraqi security forces were fully trained, ''you can be certain, we will be more than pleased to stand down and have the Iraqis do it themselves'', Rice said.

RUN FOR PRESIDENT? Security was tight at the speech venue where guests had been asked to arrive two hours in advance to clear various checks, and were kept inside the building after the speech until Rice's motorcade had departed.

One prominent Indonesian businessman asked Rice whether she would run for president if asked.

''No. Not likely in my lifetime,'' she quipped.

Most of Indonesia's Muslims, who account for about 85 percent of the population, are considered moderates, but a violent militant minority has been blamed for sporadic bombings that have killed hundreds over the last several years.

Critics say one reason the United States restored military ties with Indonesia last November was in hopes of getting greater anti-terrorism cooperation.

Rice praised Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries for knowing ''that terrorists must be actively confronted'' and said ''the force of tolerance'' was important in that effort.

''I think Indonesia is doing its part in demonstrating that it is possible to both adhere to Islamic belief and be democratic,'' she said.

Rice's visit was the second leg of a nine-day trip that started in Chile and ends with three days in close ally Australia.

REUTERS VJ PM1422