Jakarta, Indonesia ? The United States needs to let other countries decide for themselves how to fight terrorism to counter perceptions the U.S. is overbearing, Indonesia’s defense minister lectured visiting Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday.

In turn, Rumsfeld talked to Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono and Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono about a need for their nation to continue efforts to ensure that human rights abuses are no longer a problem with its military.

After more than seven years of estrangement, the United States is working to improve its military relationship with Indonesia in the face of growing disenchantment over the Iraq war among the people in this Muslim nation.

“As the largest Muslim country, we are very aware of the perception … that the United States is overbearing, over-present and overwhelming in every sector of life in many nations and cultures,” said Sudarsono, seen as a close U.S. ally in the war on terror.

He said the United States risks angering groups across the world who feel threatened by America’s military and economic might. There is a feeling, he said, that “the sun never sets on the back of an American GI.”

Rumsfeld, the latest in a string of U.S. officials who have visited Jakarta, defended U.S. policy, saying “I never have indicated to any country that they should do something they were uncomfortable doing.”

Rumsfeld wrapped up a five-day, three-nation tour in Southeast Asia. He now goes to Brussels, Belgium, for a NATO meeting of defense ministers.