General Endriartono Sutarto said the full restoration of military links was a matter for the political leaders of both nations to decide, but said he would like to see this happen.

"Normalisation of relations is one of the most important things and it will help a lot to give us knowledge concerning democracy, concerning the respect for human rights, and also how to conduct humanitarian activities," he told an international security forum in Singapore.

"It's up to the politicians to decide that, but it will help a lot in the stability of the region and also it will help a lot the process of democracy in Indonesia."

Sutarto, the commander-in-chief of the Indonesian National Defence Forces, noted that he had received military training in the United States in 1977 and acknowledged this bolstered his career.

The United States froze military ties with Indonesia, the world's biggest Islamic country, more than a decade ago because of alleged human rights abuses by the armed forces.

But Washington announced on May 26 it had lifted a ban on the US government selling nonlethal defence equipment to Indonesia as part of a process to restore full military links.

"That means we can do foreign military sales in excess defence articles," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

Washington's announcement coincided with a visit by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to the United States in which he met with US President George W. Bush.

Direct US commercial sales of nonlethal defence articles and services were allowed in January and involved providing spare parts to Indonesian C-130 military transport planes used in relief operations after the December 26 tsunami that ravaged Indonesia's Aceh province.

Boucher described last month's decision to allow government-to-government sales as the "third step" in a process aimed at easing the military embargo after the reformist Yudhoyono came into power through the country's first direct presidential elections last year.

Indonesia is seeking military hardware and training assistance from the United States to revitalise its overstretched and poorly equipped armed forces guarding a vast archipelago.

In his speech to the delegates attending the Institute for International Strategic Studies' Asia Security Conference, Sutarto also thanked all the armed forces worldwide which came to Indonesia's rescue in the aftermath of the tsunami.

The United States sent a large-scale military and humanitarian contingent to Indonesia for the relief operations, including the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and the floating hospital ship USNS Mercy.

The Australian, French, German, Japanese and Singaporean militaries also sent help.

"This is an example of how the militaries can work together, not to kill each other but to save lives," Sutarto told the audience, comprised of defence ministers, senior military officals, diplomats and scholars.

"It's really very helpful, very useful, all the soldiers that you sent to Aceh... Good job."

The chairman of the US Joints Chief of Staff, General Richard Myers, was in the audience for Sutarto's address.

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