Families appeal for release of three Indonesians

Yogita Tahilramani and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Families of the three Indonesian terror suspects arrested in the Philippines appealed to the government on Friday to facilitate their release from jail, claiming that the neighboring country's move was unfair.

"The arrests are a weird drama. We want the government of Indonesia to be more proactive in seeking the release of those citizens who are slandered," Nuraini Balfas, the sister of Abdul Jamal Balfas, one of those arrested, told reporters after a meeting with deputy House Speaker A.M. Fatwa on Friday.

Nuraini, who visited the House of Representatives (DPR) to solicit support for the release of the three detainees, was accompanied by Fatimah Zami and Novianti Intan Jauhari, wives of Tamsil Linrung and Abdul Jamal Balfas respectively.

Tamsil, Balfas, and Agus Dwikarna were arrested at the Ninoy Aquino Airport in Manila for allegedly carrying components to make a C4 bomb. The three have firmly denied the allegations.

On Friday, they were scheduled to be released on conditional bail, Fatwa said.

However when Indonesian Embassy officials in the Philippines came to pick up the three men, police authorities said that the release was impossible, despite the payment of the bail, according to Fatwa, who spoke with Tamsil on the phone.

Tamsil is Fatwa's colleague in the National Mandate Party, but has resigned as the party's deputy treasurer.

"When (Indonesian Embassy) Consular Chairul Sulaiman arrived to pick up the men, police told him the three would be rearrested on grounds of violating immigration laws," Fatwa told The Jakarta Post on Friday night.

Fatwa said that the immigration violation related to when the trio arrived in the Philippines "on tourist visas, but (allegedly) carrying explosives in their luggage" last week.

Both Novianti and Fatimah said that their husbands had been invited to Manila for a business trip, by a man they identified only as Dr. Prasan, a Thai businessman who wishes to invest in coal mining in West Kalimantan, and in Mindanao, the Philippines.

Prasan reportedly not only spent US$5,000 to hire lawyers for the Indonesians in the Philippines, he paid the conditional bail money for the three men.

A preliminary trial hearing is scheduled in the Philippines on April 3 to review the validity of the allegations. On that day the other Indonesian, Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, who was arrested in January, will begin his trial of charges of possession of explosives.

Fatwa said he would be leaving for Manila in the House recess, which will span from March 29 to May 10. Another PAN and House Commission I member, Djoko Susilo, will fly for the Philippines in advance to seek first hand information on the matter.

National Police sent three officers, including an intelligence operative, to the Philippines on Thursday to explore a possible link between the men and Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) Chief Abu Bakar Ba'asyir. Ba'asyir has been accused by Singapore and Malaysia of leading the alleged al Qaeda-linked militant group Jamaah Islamiyah (JI).

Agus, a coordinator of Laskar Jundullah, a Muslim group advocating the imposition of Islamic law in Indonesia, is also a senior official of the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI).

Tamsil Linrung is a member of the advisory board of the Committee for the Preparation of the Enforcement of Islamic Law and former treasurer of the National Mandate Party (PAN).

Police will also look into the possibility of ties between the men and Fathur.

Philippines Police have stated that all four Indonesians are members of the JI. Reportedly led by Ba'asyir, JI is also run in Malaysia by Hambali, alias Nurjaman Riduan Ishamuddin, an Indonesian Muslim cleric wanted by Indonesian Police for allegedly supplying field operators with money and bombs for the 2000 Christmas bombings in Indonesia.