American national complains about telephoned threat

American national complains about telephoned threat

JAKARTA (JP): An American consultant living in Yogyakarta has
complained to Sleman Police station about threats made against
him following political tension between the U.S. and Afghanistan,
according to Machfud MD, former minister of defense and security.

"I accompanied him to the police on Sept. 22. He said he felt
insecure after having received a telephone call from an
unidentified caller threatening to kill him," Mahfud said,
declining to reveal his American friend's identity.

Sleman Police precinct chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Joko Subroto said
on Wednesday that the meeting with the American national was just
routine.

Machfud's testimony was very relevant to recent developments
in which certain groups of people searched for American nationals
at two large hotels in Surakarta. Many groups of Muslims have
also demonstrated against America, burning the country's flag and
condemning its plan to attack Afghanistan should the latter fail
to hand over Osama bin Laden for the attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon.

Law experts interviewed by The Jakarta Post separately in
Surabaya and Yogyakarta regretted the sweeps and threats against
Americans.

Jani Purnawanty and Sugeng Istanto, international law experts
from Airlangga University, Surabaya, and Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada
University said that the police had to guarantee the security of
any foreigners who entered and stayed in the country lawfully.

"Regardless of the stated reasons, the government must stop
the searches as they could hamper relations between Indonesia and
America. The sweeps could also be classified as a violation
against the rights of individuals to security and comfort," said
Jani, a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, U.S.

Sugeng shared this opinion, saying that the foreigners
deserved full protection from the government as long as they did
not break any laws.

In a related development Bambang Purnomo, a law expert of
Gadjah Mada University and Budi Santoso, director of the
Yogyakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) suggested that any Americans
who felt insecure or threatened should report to the police.

"The Indonesian Police law stipulates that they have the duty
to provide anyone with proper protection whenever he or she feels
insecure or threatened," Budi said.

Bambang said that a threat could be either of a physical or
psychological nature. "Our Criminal Code (KUHP) deals only with
physical matters."

Flexible articles

Budi said, however, that there were no specific articles
within KUHP that covered radical acts against American nationals,
including threats or sweeps.

"But you can use 'flexible articles', better known as haatzaai
artikelen to indict those carrying out such offenses. These
articles are open to wide interpretation such that you can apply
them to almost any case," Budi said.

Among such articles, according to Budi, are Articles 335 and
170 of the Criminal Code.

"Article 335 deals with unsocial behavior and carries a
maximum penalty of one year's imprisonment or a fine of Rp 4,500,
while article 170 is about mass violence and carries a maximum
penalty of five years and six months imprisonment," he said.

Budi said, however, that as long as the threats were not
carried out, the police could do nothing but take preventive
measures.

"The police may deploy more personnel to vulnerable spots or
quell the groups of people that cause a commotion. It would be
difficult for them to do more," he said.

On the burning of the American flag by demonstrators recently,
Jani said that both it and the sweeps were humiliating acts:
"Both the flag-burning and the sweeps could ruin the image of
Indonesia in the international world."

Such action was not classified as serious and did not
constitute a breach against any international convention, "but
the affected country could retaliate politically."

"A national flag is a symbol that everybody or every country
must respect. This is an unwritten convention that is universally
accepted. Therefore, burning a flag is a humiliation of a
national symbol. The punishment is, however, political rather
than legal," Jani said.

"As far as I know, no single country has filed a lawsuit
against such offenders for this kind of humiliation."

The most recent flag-burning was conducted by hundreds of
students grouped in the Indonesian Muslim Students Association
(KAMMI) in the Central Java town of Purwokerto on Wednesday.

The students also set ablaze the flag of Israel, which they
said was one of the U.S.'s close allies. (23/45/swa/sur)