BIN moves to subvert radical groups
BIN moves to subvert radical groups
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Creating internal conflicts within radical groups through
infiltration is one of the strategies being pursued by the State
Intelligence Agency (BIN) to fight terrorism, BIN director Maj.
Gen. (ret) Syamsir Siregar said on Monday.
The strategy, he said, was to help the intelligence service
neutralize those groups that were believed to have played roles
in terror attacks across the country.
"We're penetrate these radical groups and then we create
internal conflicts (to weaken them)," Syamsir said during a
hearing with the House of Representatives' defense commission.
He refused to identify which groups he was referring to, or
say whether they were religion-based or politics-based ones.
"That's a secret, of course. Otherwise, it would not be an
intelligence operation anymore," he said.
This strategy, said Syamsir, was one of BIN's eight strategies
for stamping out terrorism, which has been rampant around the
country with a string of bombings and a history of violence in
conflict-prone areas over the past few years.
Other strategies include seeking greater powers through
legislative amendments, neutralizing foreign elements, the
elimination of terror, tighter coordination with other relevant
services, strengthening public participation and cooperation with
foreign intelligence services.
BIN has been lobbying the House for greater powers, which it
considers essential if it is to curb. These lobby efforts come
against the background of the planned deliberation of the
intelligence services bill.
High on BIN's wish-list is the power to arrest those who are
believed to be involved in terror activities and to hold them for
questioning for up to three days. The current antiterror law only
allows the police to detain terrorist suspects. They may be held
for up to seven days.
If the power of arrest were granted, BIN said that arrests
could be made based on its own assessments and that prior
coordination with the police would not be required.