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)