Antiterrorism center raises profile of Indonesian police
Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Semarang
A bus packed with passengers passes by quickly on an empty street. It seems that everything is normal from the outside. However, inside the bus the passengers are being held hostage by a group of heavily armed terrorists.
Suddenly, a car moves swiftly to overtake the bus. About thirty meters in front of the bus, smoke starts coming out from under the car's hood and it slowly grinds to a halt, forcing the bus to also stop. Two of the terrorists get out of the bus and approach the car. They shout at the car passengers, ordering them to pull over.
In response, some of the car passengers get out and approach the terrorists, who apparently are unaware that the car passengers are actually plainclothes police officers. After getting close enough, they incapacitate the terrorists with their bare hands. At the same time, other plainclothes officers deal with the remaining terrorists on the bus.
The above was staged as part of a demonstration by students at the International Antiterrorism Training Center, and was witnessed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Indonesian Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar during their visit to Semarang, Central Java, on Friday.
"The police now have to be more creative and more innovative in combating terrorism," said President Susilo in his speech.
The antiterrorism school was established by President Megawati Soekarnoputri on July 3 last year following a meeting in Bali in February of last year that was attended by 25 foreign ministers from Asian and Pacific countries.
The decision to establish the school was taken after the foreign ministers stressed the need for an antiterrorism school to help combat terrorism in Asia-Pacific. Besides the Indonesian contribution, Australia has contributed US$38 million to support the school for five years.
Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said that some African and European countries had also expressed a willingness to contribute funding and expert staff to the school, as well as students.
Since it was opened last year, 31 participants have attended courses at the school, with 21 of these from overseas, including a number of Southeast Asian countries, South Korea, Fiji, and Vanuatu, with the remaining 10 participants being from Indonesia. The participants are police officers, as well as prosecutorial, immigration and custom officers. They all have to meet a number of minimum requirements, such as being aged between 26 and 40, fluency in English and having undertaken courses in basic intelligence work. For police personnel, the participants must be at least of the rank of adjutant commissioner, or its equivalent in other police forces.
The participants spend two months at the school, studying various courses, including the International Management of Serious Crime (IMOSC) course, as well as forensic, financial fraud (such as money laundering), intelligence, communications and research, and intelligence strategy courses.
They are also taught practical lessons on how to combat terrorism, and, for example, rescue hostages from buses, trains, aircraft and high-rise buildings.
The lecturers at the school are experts in their respective fields. The school has 13 lecturers, including the man who fronted the Bali bombings investigation, I Made Mangku Pastika, and key members of his staff, including Brig. Gen. Gorries Mere and Brig. Gen. Edi Saparwoko. Eight other lecturers are from overseas, including the U.S, Australia, Germany and the UK.
The lecturers teach four batches of participants a year.
Why was Indonesia selected to host the antiterrorism school?
"Indonesia is considered as having considerable experience in handling terrorism cases," said Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, while pointing to the success of Indonesia, with overseas help, in identifying the perpetrators of the Bali and Marriott bombings.
The school occupies a 1,000-hectare site in the grounds of the Indonesian Police Academy in Semarang. It has various facilities, including a student dormitory and library. It has also mock-up training facilities, such as a large ship, a Fokker aircraft and a train. It took six hours to transport the train from Poncol Station to the school, a distance of 15 kilometers.