[NYTr] Arms and the prince

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

New Statesman - Nov 29, 207
http://www.newstatesman.com/200711290018


Arms and the prince

By Mark Thomas

Unfortunately the royal family has form when it comes to schmoozing
dictators and thugs

There are no prizes for guessing that standing on the left of the photo
is the chap who will, in the absence of the revolution, one day be king
- Prince William. (For image see - http://tinyurl.com/386hro )

The two chaps on the right happen to be among the most senior generals
in the Indonesian military, and the photo has caused a stir among MPs
and human rights groups. The meeting is seen as being, at best, clumsy
and inappropriate. Nonetheless it left one Indonesian human rights
activist asking of the royal family: "Have they become lobbyists for
the UK arms industry?"

The Ministry of Defence has been forced to disclose details of the
meeting in response to a Freedom of Information request. The meeting
with Air Chief Marshal Djoko Suyanto and Rear Admiral Didik Heru
Purnomo took place in February this year in the hall of the Household
Cavalry Regiment's officers' mess in Windsor.

According to the MoD, the Indonesian chief of defence forces was paying
"a call" on the British Chief of Defence Staff to "build defence
relations" and, "as is customary when hosting foreign representatives,
a visit to a military unit was organised". Thus, it just so happened
that the unit they went to visit was the Household Cavalry. It also
just so happened that Prince William was the orderly officer of the day.

According to the MoD, "This was purely a chance encounter." Clarence
House played the meeting down even further, saying that the prince
happened to be introduced to the generals as "they passed each other in
a corridor".

Unfortunately the royal family has form when it comes to schmoozing
dictators and thugs, so the Palace line has not placated Roger Berry,
MP for Kingswood and chairman of the quadripartite select committee on
strategic export controls, who said that as "arms deals with Indonesia
have been incredibly controversial in recent years it is totally
inappropriate that William should be seen to have any involvement".

The impact of a handshake cannot be avoided, especially as the photos
are being used as PR on the Indonesian embassy's website. The MoD
claims that Prince William was "not present in a royal capacity".
However, Symon Hill from the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) calls
the claim "bizarre", given that "whatever he does is seen as having
royal approval".

Berry insists it is "not the kind of thing the royal family should be
touching with a bargepole".

The current Indonesian military commander in occupied West Papua is
Colonel Burhanuddin Siagian, an indicted war criminal charged with
crimes against humanity for his activities in East Timor. Rather than
see him face justice and put him on trial, the Indonesian military
moved him to West Papua.

For more than a decade there has been widespread condemnation of UK arms
sales to Indonesia. In 1996, Quaker activists used hammers to disable a
Hawk jet aircraft destined for Indonesia. And there was outrage when
Robin Cook's ethical foreign policy collapsed after Labour approved the
sale of the aircraft in 1997.

At their height from 1997 to 2000, UK arms sales to Indonesia were worth
roughly #100m a year, but by 2004 this dropped to #1m. The fall is due
partly to the availability of much cheaper Russian equipment. But it is
also a response to British public reaction to the regime's brutality in
the final stages of the regime's presence in East Timor, and to the
ongoing, vicious occupation of West Papua.

However, efforts are under way to revive the trade. The Defence Export
Services Organisation exists to promote UK arms sales abroad and works
out of the MoD. At a symposium this year the DESO's then head, Alan
Garwood, said that in Indonesia the UK arms industry was "a resurgent
brand". Although Indonesia had been "off our Christmas-card list for
many years", it was back on, he said. Ten years ago Indonesia was
"second only to Saudi Arabia in terms of its value to the UK defence
industry", he also said.

It is apt that the Saudis should come into this equation, given the
timing of the recent state visit by King Abdullah, the Saudi monarch.
The Serious Fraud Office investigation into allegations of bribery and
corruption between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia was dropped, after
pressure from Tony Blair, in December 2006.

The Saudis signed a deal worth billions for 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets,
made by a consortium of which BAE Systems is a lead partner, in
September 2007. The Queen wined and dined the Saudi king in October
2007.

"I am sure that the vast majority of British people do not want the
royal family to be endorsing, even inadvertently, the arms trade,
especially to vicious regimes," says Symon Hill from CAAT. "It is vital
that everyone representing the UK learns to distinguish between arms
companies' profits and the British public interest."

But it is unlikely that Prince William will have a chance encounter with
anyone voicing that opinion.

[Mark Thomas performs "More Adventures in Serious Organised Crime" at
The Venue, London WC2, from 1-15 December (except 9 December). For more
information tel: 0870 264 3333.]