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Jakarta. The families of people allegedly killed by the Army’s Kopassus special forces plan to march on the US Embassy in Jakarta on Tuesday to demand answers for why the Obama administration lifted a no-contact ban on the elite unit accused of widespread human rights abuses.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Jakarta on Thursday to announce the lifting of the ban on Kopassus as “a result of Indonesian military reforms over the past decade, the ongoing professionalization of the TNI [Indonesian Armed Forces] and recent actions taken by the Ministry of Defense to address human rights issues.”

The US Defense Department severed all ties with Kopassus in 1999 under a law banning cooperation with foreign troops implicated in rights abuses.

At a Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) news conference on Sunday, Maria Catarina Sumarsih said the US decision to reverse the ban would hurt chances to punish those responsible for her son’s death.

“As an ordinary person, I am very disappointed with this turn of events. The US is acting like a washing machine by cleaning the dirt from the Indonesian military,” Sumarsih said.

Maria’s son, Norma Irawan Benardinus Realino, died after being shot by soldiers during a demonstration against former President Suharto on Nov. 13, 1998.

“I have been seeking justice for more than 12 years, since my son was brutally shot by the military, and today the US is saying that what they did is correct by reviving defense ties. Maybe they think killing innocent people is correct,” she said.

Kontras’s head of research, Papang Hidayat, also criticized Armed Forces Chief Gen. Djoko Santoso’s declaration on Friday that Kopassus had already sanctioned personnel involved in questionable conduct and that the issue of past human rights violations was over.

“The fact is that 13 activists remain missing. We believe that Kopassus was behind their disappearance,” said Kontras’s deputy chief, Haris Azhar.

He was referring to allegations that Kopassus troops kidnapped 23 student activists during the last months of the Suharto regime. The nine who resurfaced said they had been interrogated and tortured, one was found dead and 13 are still missing.

Rights groups also criticized the decision to renew cooperation. “It’s hard to see the administration’s decision as anything other than a victory for abusive militaries worldwide,” said Sophie Richardson, Human Rights Watch Asia’s advocacy director.