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.