Motive fears around US aid

AMERICAN soldiers are being welcomed like heroes as they haul food and water into battered Indonesia - but their long-term presence could raise concerns that Washington is using the tragedy to establish a permanent military presence in southeast Asia.

But so far the US relief campaign for Indonesia’s Aceh province appears to be winning over even the harshest critics in the world’s most populous Muslim nation, where many were furious over the US attack on Iraq.

The disaster has killed up to 100,000 Indonesians and left a million homeless, mostly on Sumatra island.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, who arrived in Thailand last night, said the US relief effort was not a public relations exercise.

“We have good relations with all of these countries, even though there have been disagreements on specific policy issues, such as, of course, Iraq,” he said.

“The point I have been making all week long is that we are not doing this because we are seeking political advantage, or just because we are trying to make ourselves look better with Muslims,” Powell said. “We’re doing this because these are human beings in need, in desperate need.”

Indonesia has previously rejected offers of foreign troops to help it battle terrorism.

It also joined Malaysia in opposing an American plan to tighten security in the vital Malacca Straits shipping lanes, which might have meant stationing US troops nearby.