Antiterrorism center raises profile of Indonesian police

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.