[5] In 1831, the natives living in the village of Kuala Batee (located on the island of Sumatra, then part of the Dutch East Indies) massacred the crew of a U.S. merchant ship.

The Cold War played a critical role as the Indonesian Republic conclusively demonstrated its willingness and ability to suppress internal communist movements, as directed by the Comintern.

It hosted American investments in petroleum and raw materials and controlled a highly strategic location near vital shipping lanes.

When Indonesia started selling rubber to Communist China in the mid-1950s, the Eisenhower administration protested and persuaded Jakarta to cease the sales, allowing friendly relations to resume.

Following an attempted coup on September 30, 1965, and the ensuing massacres of communists, the pro-Western Suharto came to power in 1968, and the U.S. started providing financial and military aid to Indonesia.

[22] Anti-Fretilin activists from the other main parties fled to West Timor, a part of Indonesia, and called upon Jakarta to annex the former Portuguese colony.

[23][24] Recent research into newly opened documents indicates that anti-communism was not the main reason for Western support of Indonesia's takeover of East Timor.

[25] Following the invasion, U.S. military aid averaged about $30 million annually throughout the occupation of East Timor, and arms sales increased exponentially under President Jimmy Carter.

This policy continued until 1999 when President Bill Clinton was outraged by Indonesia's defiance of East Timor referendum results that heavily favored independence.

The Barack Obama administration celebrates shared democratic values and interests and recognizes Indonesia's increasingly influential role in world affairs.

Efforts by 2010 were underway for the two countries to create a 'Comprehensive Partnership Agreement' (CPA) encompassing enhanced security, economic and educational engagement, as well as cooperation on transnational issues such as climate change.

The U.S. has welcomed Indonesia's contributions to regional security, especially its leading role in helping restore democracy in Cambodia and in mediating territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Military assistance programs were again suspended, however, in the aftermath of the violence and destruction in East Timor following the August 30, 1999 referendum favoring independence.

Separately, the U.S. had urged the Indonesian government to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of the August 2002 ambush murders of two U.S. teachers near Timika, Papua.

In 2005, the Secretary of State certified that Indonesian cooperation in the murder investigation had met the conditions set by Congress, enabling the resumption of full IMET.

Initial assistance focused on the most urgent needs of the new republic, including food aid, infrastructure rehabilitation, health care, and training.

Through the 1970s, a time of enormous economic growth in Indonesia, USAID played a significant role in helping the country achieve self-sufficiency in rice production and in reducing the birth rate.

Today, USAID assistance programs focus on primary education, democratic governance, rebuilding after the 2004 tsunami, economic growth, health, water, food, and the environment.

Since 2003, this project has worked with local governments to strengthen their capacity to effectively manage primary education services in 20 districts/municipalities in East and Central Java, Aceh, and Jakarta.

MBE is also working with 10,000 educators to improve the quality of teaching and learning in grades 1–9 through in-service teacher training, community participation, and the promotion of school-based management.

USAID is assisting communities by providing much-needed shelter, working with the Indonesian government to rebuild vital infrastructure, and ensuring proper mapping and planning is considered through local cooperation.

These efforts drive increased productivity and national competitiveness by forging stronger coalitions of public, private, and civil society advocates for legal, regulatory, and policy change.

In the upper watershed, the program promotes forest management, biodiversity conservation, and land use planning to protect a steady, year-round source of clean water.

Marginalized urban communities also benefit from the introduction of safe drinking water through Air Rahmat, a home chlorination product being introduced to the market through a public-private partnership.

Improved health-seeking behaviors within communities link key hygiene promotion interventions, such as hand-washing with soap, in order to reduce diarrheal disease, a major cause of childhood death.

In December 2010, the United States reached out to the Indonesian youth by establishing @america, a high-tech, interactive operation heralded as the digital-age successor to the venerable American Cultural Center.

The technology on display — a giant, supercharged version of Google Earth called Liquid Galaxy, scores of iPads that are available to test, interactive monitors explaining Black History Month — thrilled the teenagers.

[36] In 2010, the United States lifted a ban on military contacts with Kopassus, an Indonesian special operations forces involved with human rights abuses in the 1990s.

[39] According to an official familiar with the matter, president Joko Widodo's administration was concerned that the US would take punitive actions on trade and implement economic sanctions against Indonesia if the deals were completed.

[39] The United States is a major supplier of military hardware to Indonesia, including of Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopters and the F-16 Fighting Falcon.