Since the 1990s carnage carried out by the Indonesian military in East Timor, often using foreign supplied weapons, there has been a growing recognition that foreign governments who arm and train the Indonesian security forces are in many ways complicit in their actions.

In the 1990s, the US government imposed an embargo on foreign military sales to Indonesia, and restrictions on military training and other cooperation.

But the British government continued to supply spare parts and other 'non lethal' equipment, while at the same time condemning the use of UK supplied Hawk jets to bomb what the Indonesian military said were insurgent targets; British made Scorpion tanks were also used to raid towns and villages. The majority of casualties of such operations were civilians. Throughout the years of the conflict, the Indonesian government chose to ignore requests from the British Foreign Office that these weapons should not be used in operation in Aceh - or elsewhere in archipelago.

After intense debate in the US, the arms embargo was finally lifted-the US government and its military is now fully engaging with the Indonesian military. Other countries such as the UK and Australia are also engaging in training and joint exercises in order to 'encourage reform'