TEMPO, Friday, 02 July, 2004 | 18:17 WIB
National
Indonesian Government Again Requests Access to Hambali
TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The Indonesian Government has once again requested
that the US authorities provide access to Encep Nurjaman aka Hambali, the alleged
leader of Jemaah Islamiyah group in Southeast Asia, in person so he can be
questioned by the Indonesian authorities.
Hambali is still being detained by the USA but his actual whereabouts remain a
secret.
As reported previously, Hambali was arrested by the US authorities at his apartment
in Ayutthaya (around 180 km west of Bangkok, Thailand) on August 12, 2003.
The US authorities in Washington DC promised to provide the Indonesian government
with access to Hambali for questioning but this has not yet been realized.
"US State of Secretary Colin Powell will deliver this request to the US government in
Washington DC," Yuri Thamrin, Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs' spokesman,
told reporters, following a bilateral meeting between Indonesian foreign minister
Hassan Wirajuda and Powell at the Jakarta Convention Center on Friday (02/07).
Thamrin said that Wirajuda had delivered the request from the Indonesian authorities
during his meeting with Powell.
According to Thamrin, Wirajuda also told Powell that the Indonesian authorities need
to question Hambali in order to unravel possible terrorism networks in Indonesia.
Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs's director of North America and Central
America regions, Dino Patti Djalal, also said that Wirajuda had asked the US
government to immediately normalize its military relationship with Indonesia.
Powell, Djalal said, had promised to deliver this request to the US government.
As reported, Indonesian and US military relations has been disturbed ever since the
rioting in East Timor following the 1999 ballot.
The situation worsened when two US citizens, Rickey Spears and Ted Burcon, who
worked as teachers at the Freeport international school, were killed in an incident in
Timika on August 31, 2002.
The US authorities have recently announced that the Indonesian Military (TNI) was not
involved in this incident.
Antonius Wamang, the operational commander of the Free Papua Organization
(OPM), is named as the main suspect in the Timika incident. (Faisal – Tempo News
Room)
copyright TEMPO 2003
|
