Activist arrest protested
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A Muslim organization has protested the recent arrest of 13 activists whom the police have allegedly linked with terrorists and a string of terrorist attacks in the country.
The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) said it was upset by the arrests, claimed that they were done without proper procedures while a Muslim politician strongly urged the police to present evidence that the detainees were linked to terrorists.
MUI deputy chairman Amidhan called the arrest illegal, saying the government was reviving the (former president Soeharto's) old regime, which arrested many activists and dissidents arbitrarily.
"The arrests are similar to the way the former New Order regime arrested activists with the draconian subversion law as its legal basis," said Amidhan when receiving the detained activists' wives and other relatives at the MUI headquarters here on Tuesday.
National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar revealed in a hearing with the House of Representatives' Commission I that the police had recently detained the 13 activists for their alleged links with terrorists and the recent bomb attacks on the basis of information from reliable sources.
Da'i also stressed that the arrest was legal because besides issuing warrants before the arrest, the 2003 antiterrorism law allows the police to arrest terrorist suspects and detain them for a week.
But he did not say whether the police gave notification to the district court before the arrest.
Amid the mounting protests, the police nabbed three more people in the Central Java capital of Semarang for their alleged involvement in the Jamaah Islamiyah terror network.
None of the Central Java Police officers were available for comment, but Antara quoted a credible source as saying the latest person to be arrested was only identified as BT, a lecturer at a university in Semarang, SB, a Jakarta resident and PM, a Malaysian national.
The source said they had been flown to Jakarta.
The three people were arrested in connection with the seizure of explosives and ammunition on Jl. Sri Redjeki in West Semarang recently.
The police also faced strong resistance from the Islamic community Central Java when they arrested Indonesian Mudjahidin Council (MMI) Chairman Abu Bakar Ba'asyir last October. Ba'asyir was recently sentenced to four years imprisonment for immigration offenses and links to treason.
Mahendradatta, a lawyer appointed by the families to accompany the 13 detainees, said in the meeting that their wives met the MUI leaders, not to interfere with the police investigation into their husbands, but to ask what would be considered excessive regarding those arrests.
"The families have nothing to do with terrorism, but they have been labeled as terrorist families following the arrest," he said.
During the meeting, the wives of seven detainees were also accompanied by activists from MMI.
The wives expressed their deep disappointment with the police and contradicted D'ai's statement by saying there were no warrants.
Desi Puspita, one of the seven wives, said that she knew about the police arrest of her husband only after he had been missing for five days.
Aminah, another wife, questioned the legality of it all.
According to her, her husband was arrested only because he often spoke at the mosque where the Bali bombing suspects attended Friday prayers.
"The arrest was strange, my husband has several times told his audience that he opposes terrorism," she said, recalling her husband's speeches.
House Speaker Akbar Tandjung said in the Southeast Sulawesi provincial capital of Kendari that he would ask the House's Commission II on home affairs and security to speak with the police leadership on the matter.
He said the police should make it very clear to the public about the arrests to prevent any more confusion.