BIN performance comes under fire<\/p>\n
Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Abdullah Mahmud
\nHendropriyono has had to bite his tongue for some time now,
\nparticularly after his revelation last December that a training
\ncamp run by a Muslim group linked to al-Qaeda had been found in
\nthe Central Sulawesi town of Poso sparked controversy.<\/p>\n
Members of the House of Representatives (DPR) demanded that he
\nwithdraw his statement, for fear that it could provoke the anger
\nof hardline Muslim groups.<\/p>\n
Poso had been hit by a sectarian conflict between Christians
\nand Muslims that began in late 1999. The clashes, in which at
\nleast 2,000 people were killed, ended last month.<\/p>\n
Investigations carried out in Spain into the al-Qaeda network
\nincluded reports that the group had trained 3,000 multinational
\ntroops in camps in Indonesia, including Poso.<\/p>\n
The government had earlier said that tardy and poor-quality
\ninformation gathered by its intelligence services had often
\nindirectly led to violent incidents in the country, including the
\nbombing of the Philippines Embassy in 2000, a series of bomb
\nattacks on Christmas Eve that year and the bombing of the Atrium
\nPlaza by a Malaysian national last year.<\/p>\n
The underlying question that remains is whether BIN's silence
\nand denials on issues concerning terrorism reflect its ignorance
\nof intelligence matters or are a deliberate attempt on BIN's part
\nto withhold information from the president and other security
\ninstitutions.<\/p>\n
Existing regulations dictate that BIN answers directly to the
\npresident. Johannes Kristiadi of the Centre for Strategic and
\nInternational Studies (CSIS) said that BIN could have its own
\nreasons for not revealing information on terrorism.<\/p>\n
\"The matter is too sensitive. BIN may have its doubts about
\nwhether such information should be revealed or not. Sometimes
\nsuch (terrorist) information when revealed can aggravate Muslim
\ngroups or militias here... and their backers or funders. Worse,
\nthe information may turn out to be inaccurate,\" Kristiadi told
\nThe Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Hendropriyono has repeatedly said that the government is doing
\nits best on the war against terrorism, while the Indonesian
\nMilitary (TNI) Chief Adm. Widodo AS has said that the TNI would
\nbe taking serious precautions against the possibility of
\nIndonesia becoming a hotbed of terrorists.<\/p>\n
Indria Samego of the National Institute of Sciences (LIPI)
\nsaid that another problem faced by Indonesia's intelligence
\nservice was that it still linked terrorism to domestic separatist
\nrebels, and was skilled only in matters of domestic surveillance.<\/p>\n
\"They are not fully equipped with the technology to conduct
\nsurveillance at the international level,\" Indria told the Post on
\nSunday. \"Our intelligence forces are not trained to deal with
\ninternational terrorism threats. They still fuss over domestic
\nthreats.\"<\/p>\n
This weakness is unacceptable according to Kristiadi, who said
\nthat the nation's intelligence gathering skills had gradually
\nstrengthened since BIN had been incorporated at all bureaucratic
\nlevels after the end of the New Order regime.<\/p>\n
The skills and strength of the Indonesian intelligence service
\nhad grown, he said, with the gathering of intelligence carried
\nout at all levels, and supervised by a number of bodies with
\noverlapping jurisdiction.<\/p>\n
The bodies included BIN (formerly the State Intelligence
\nCoordinating Body (Bakin), the military unit in charge of
\ninternal security, the military intelligence agency (Bais), the
\nNational Police Intelligence, and the Deputy Attorney General for
\nintelligence.<\/p>\n
\"With all of that... can one really believe that our
\nintelligence forces will not know if, for instance, international
\nterrorists are training in camps in Indonesia?\" Kristiadi said.<\/p>\n
The appointment of Hendropriyono itself has drawn criticism
\ndue to his alleged role in human rights violations in Lampung in
\n1989, when he was the military commander there. Some 200 people
\nin Talangsari reportedly died in the incident.<\/p>\n
President Megawati Soekarnoputri has reportedly done much to
\naccommodate the military, which includes the recruitment of
\nHendropriyono.<\/p>\n
Unlike in the past, the BIN chief is a ministerial level post
\nin Megawati's administration and functions as the leading
\ninstitution for all intelligence bodies including Bais, Navy and
\nAir Force intelligence, and the National Police.<\/p>\n
A 1967 Military Academy graduate, Hendropriyono spent 20 years
\nin the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) before taking up
\nintelligence work, including with the Jakarta Military Command
\nand Bais.<\/p>",
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