JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesian leaders and thinkers imagined the host of possibilities yesterday for a new partnership between this massive archipelago and Hawai'i, saying it could not only bolster disaster preparedness, but help military reforms and strengthen relations with the U.S.

"The military response in the past disaster situations has not been very good," said the former Indonesian ambassador to Austria, France and Australia, who uses only one name, Wiryono. "Our capability is low. I think we need all the help we can get."

Indonesian Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono, after spending nearly an hour in a closed-door meeting with Gov. Linda Lingle and members of her delegation, did not go so far in characterizing the partnership. But he did say the Indonesian military, which numbers about 350,000, could learn from Hawai'i National Guard soldiers.

In turn, he said, Indonesian soldiers would share their hands-on experience with disasters. In recent years, Indonesia has been through everything from tsunamis to floods.

"Basically, it's capacity building," Sudarsono said yesterday at a news conference to announce the partnership. "Despite our lack of resources here, our defenses here are trained."

The new pact between the Hawai'i National Guard and Indonesian military is part of a U.S. federal program that links states with countries, improving military training programs and making ground-level friendships that affect global politics.

The program was started to foster relationships with former Soviet republics. This is only the fourth National Guard partnership in the Pacific Command.

The last, pairing the Philippines with Hawai'i and Guam, was forged in the 1990s. Alaska-Mongolia and Washington-Thailand also have partnerships.

"This is one of the most significant partnerships ever. Indonesia is one of the hinges of the Pacific," said John Finney, political adviser for the National Guard Bureau.

"The value of the partnership is that it can lead to enduring, long-term relationships."

Finney and others said it is crucial for the United States to form friendships with Indonesia, pointing to the country's growing influence in Asia and its distinction as a budding democracy that has remained secular despite an 85 percent Muslim majority.

MIDDLE EAST MODEL

Many international leaders and policymakers see Indonesia as the model the Middle East needs as the region grapples with growing Islamic fundamentalism.

"Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, and it is in everyone's best interests to maintain stability and trade, both materially and in the trade of ideas," said Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, state adjutant general and head of the Hawai'i National Guard.

The Hawai'i Guard will get as much as $500,000 a year in federal funds to pay for training associated with the program. Indonesia will also pay for exercises, the first of which is planned for September for helicopter mechanics.

Eventually, the partnership could go beyond the military, and include training for everyone from civilian first responders to government department heads.

Mehu, a journalist at one of Jakarta's largest TV stations, said Indonesians have long had concerns about how their military responds to disasters.

Indonesia was widely criticized for its response to the 2004 tsunami, which killed 120,000 Indonesians. In recent years, she said, the country of nearly 125 million has improved how it initially responds to emergencies, but is still lacking when it comes to long-term rebuilding, meeting people's needs and restoring normalcy.

"I hope it (the partnership) can benefit the military," said Mehu, who uses one name like many Indonesians. "There's still a lot to do. And there's still a lot of people concerned."

Mehu is with Metro TV News, and attended yesterday's news conference. At the event, another Indonesian reporter asked Lingle how Hawai'i could partner with a country that kills its own people, referring to a recent protest in East Java in which the military fatally shot four people.

Lingle said she could not talk about the shootings because she didn't know enough about them, and it didn't pertain to the partnership.

But the question resurfaced later when Dick Baker, assistant to the director of Honolulu's East-West Center, threw it out at a roundtable with fellows of Jakarta's Center for Strategic and International Studies, asking what it meant that it was brought up.

The Indonesian scholars said the question was a good sign that slow military reforms were taking hold. When the country was ruled by a dictatorship, and even in the years following, the military was never questioned or publicly held to task.

Now, they said, shootings of protesters have consequences.

"The military reform in Indonesia is an incomplete project," said Rizal Sukma, deputy executive director of the center. "Defining a new role for the armed forces is a big task."

He said the partnership could help push further reforms.

At home, Advertiser readers questioned whether the partnership is worthwhile.

In an Advertiser online discussion board, Roger Schenk, of Honolulu, said it is "ridiculous to think the governor or other state officials will gain any expertise ... from the Indonesians, regarding how to respond to disasters, especially tsunamis."

He added, "All you need to do is look at how they responded to the tsunami of December 2004 to know the true meaning of 'disaster.' "

Reader Helen Eschenbacher also wrote in, saying, "What a boondoggle! She can't even take care of problems here in Hawai'i, and yet she jets off to Jakarta."

Lingle said the partnership would greatly benefit Hawai'i, not only with disaster training, but by securing a significant friend in Southeast Asia.

"One of our components of our economic revitalization is international outreach," Lingle said, while speaking at a dinner last night. "I think the partnership will benefit us very much."

Lingle arrived in Indonesia Sunday and will leave Thursday for Japan, where she will stress tourism and business opportunities. Today, she is scheduled to meet with Indonesian Vice President Muhammad Jusuf Kalla.

She will also tour the tsunami warning center in Jakarta, which Hawai'i experts — and millions of U.S. dollars — helped turn into a first-class facility.

Reach Mary Vorsino at mvorsino@honoluluadvertiser.com.