BIN to build intelligence school in Batam

Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam, Riau

The State Intelligence Agency (BIN) will build an intelligence school on the industrial island of Batam, Riau, by mid next year as it was planning to establish provincial representative offices across the country, the Batam Authority Board said Friday.

Board chairman Ismeth Abdullah said the island was chosen by BIN chief Lt. Gen. Hendropriyono during their meeting here on Thursday.

Ismeth said the school would be built on five hectares of land near Batam's Hang Nadim airport.

He said BIN had submitted a request for permission to the board.

Ismeth declined to give details on the project. "The details of the plan are for BIN to disclose," he told The Jakarta Post.

He said that the school, once established, "will target Indonesian students and others from abroad," he said.

The plan drew a quick reaction from local legislators and non- governmental organizations, who said the project should have been discussed by the Batam legislative council before a decision was made.

Dipanusa Riung, an activist with the local Regional Autonomy Monitoring Board (DPOD), said the planned establishment of an intelligence school could disturb business activities in Batam.

"We should not allow the establishment of such a school to affect investors here because they feel anxious over intelligence activities," he said.

Andi Ibrahim, a member of the local legislature, said the council had no knowledge of BIN's plan.

"We will summon the Batam Authority Board chairman to explain," he told the Post separately.

Late last month, Hendropriyono said BIN would establish provincial representative offices across the country to increase information gathering and coordinate operations with other intelligence offices.

The regional offices would consist of local administration officials, police, Indonesian Military (TNI) officers and BIN agents, he said.

He said each respective governor would have access to the offices to help prevent possible attacks in their territories.

"We already have BIN agents across the country. These planned regional offices will simply coordinate intelligence reports from various intelligence offices," Hendropriyono said.

"Coordination is badly needed to strengthen intelligence analysis to prevent any form of security disturbances in the country," he added.

BIN is tasked by Presidential Instruction No. 5/2002 with coordinating all intelligence activities in the country. It was issued following the Oct. 12 Bali bombing which killed more than 190 people, mostly foreigners.

The instruction aims at improving the intelligence agencies in coping with terror threats.

Under the instruction, BIN was given the authority to coordinate all intelligence reports from the National Police, Indonesian Military and Attorney General's Office.

Intelligence analysts have, however, warned that the expansion of intelligence operations and offices would only provoke public anxiety as this could open a door for abuses by local officials. Moreover, intelligence agencies are often not accountable to the public.