LAKSAMANA.Net, June 17, 2004 07:13 PM
Police Chief Says Travel Warnings Unfair
Laksamana.Net - National Police chief General Dai Bachtiar says travel warnings
issued by foreign governments against Indonesia due to the possibility of terrorist
attacks are unfair because other countries that have suffered bombings are not
subjected to such advisories.
"We feel it is unfair treatment. It is appropriate that countries issue travel warnings
because of bomb attacks in Indonesia. But in certain countries where there have been
bombings, why don't we hear of travel warnings being issued? This is strange and we
can't do anything about it," he was quoted as saying (17/6/04) by detikcom online
news portal.
He did not name any countries that have not been the subject of foreign travel
advisories after being hit by bomb attacks.
The police chief's complaint comes a day after the US government warned that
Islamic terrorist groups could stage attacks in Indonesia to disrupt the upcoming
presidential elections.
Indonesia will hold a presidential election on July 5 and a likely runoff election on
September 20.
"Jemaah Islamiyah and other similar terrorist groups might use these elections as
opportune occasions to conduct attacks," said the US State Department travel
advisory, which urges Americans to defer to all non-essential travel to Indonesia.
"The potential remains for violence and terrorist actions against US citizens and
interests throughout the country," it said.
Bachtiar said local police intelligence had not yet uncovered any new information on
possible terror attacks in Indonesia.
"The only information we received was about South Sulawesi and we have taken
action," he said.
He was referring to recent threats of terror attacks against foreign staff at the South
Sulawesi operations of nickel mining and smelting company PT International Nickel
Indonesia, which is majority owned by Canadian company Inco.
The threats prompted the evacuation of most of the mine's expatriate staff and their
families, while new security warnings were issued by the US, Australian and
Canadian governments.
Indonesian police later claimed the threats were a hoax, perpetrated by a Catholic
dentist who worked for the company and was worried he would lose his job to a
Westerner.
But The Far Eastern Economic Review this week cites unnamed Western diplomats
and security officials as saying the terrorist scare was based on hard evidence
"obtained through signals intelligence" that Jemaah Islamiyah was intending to kill the
mining company's senior vice president and was unrelated to the threats issued by
the dentist.
The sources also said a Jemaah Islamiyah assassination squad had infiltrated
Indonesia and was working to a six-week timetable for its first attack on Westerners.
Earlier this month the magazine reported the assassination squad was planning to
kills Western diplomats and business executives, as well as prominent Indonesians.
Bachtiar said police were on the lookout for new terrorist cells that might have entered
Indonesia. “But we do not yet have proof or intelligence information that there will be
security disturbances in Indonesia. Certainly we want to be able to have such
information," he said.
He further said that intelligence information is not always correct. "There are different
categories of intelligence information. There is that which is highly credible,
moderately credible, et cetera," he said.
The police chief said he had received foreign information on attacks being planned by
in Indonesia by Jemaah Islamiyah, including a plot to bomb National Police
headquarters.
He said domestic agencies were yet to verify such reports despite their hard work, but
any information they obtain would be shared with countries that have issued travel
warnings against Indonesia.
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