'Foreign help may expose police inadequacies'
M. Taufiqurrahman and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The presence of foreign police in the ongoing investigation of two high-profile bombing cases is necessary, if not desirable, given the shortcomings by the local police to deal with the crimes, says an analyst.
Adrianus Meliala, a criminologist with the state-run University of Indonesia in Jakarta said on Monday that foreign police assistance in the investigations into the Bali blasts and the latest Marriot bombing was necessary given the lack of experience on the part of the National Police to deal with such complex cases.
He added that foreign investigators had to be approved by the National Police.
"The foreign assistance is allowed only if it is done under the scheme of government-to-government cooperation, and is merely part of a technical assistance agreement from other governments," he told The Jakarta Post by telephone.
However, the National Police can only request overseas assistance as a last resort. "I am afraid if the police frequently ask for foreign help, it will only expose their own inability in fighting against terrorism," he said.
Meliala said the investigators from several countries were only allowed to take part in technical aspects of the probe.
He dismissed speculation that the presence of foreign investigators was in some way part of a grand foreign scheme to steer the investigation in a direction that may be beneficial to them. "I don't think such speculation can be proven true, because police, in general, investigate based on evidence gathered from the field," he said.
Earlier, a member of the National Commission for Human Rights, Salahuddin Wahid, voiced his concern over the presence of foreign investigators in the Marriott probe. He said he feared that foreign intelligence agents would have a hand in deciding where the investigation should go.
In the wake of the Bali blasts that claimed 202 lives, mostly foreigners, the National Police successfully investigated the bombing with financial and technical assistance from many countries, especially Australia. Over 30 suspected members of terror group Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) have been captured and most are currently on trial in Bali.
In the Marriott investigation, U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents have arrived in the city to help the police.
Police officers from Germany, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia and Japan have also arrived to assist the police, mostly with forensic work.
There are no official figures on how many foreign investigators are here or soon to be.
Brig. Gen. Nanan Soekarna, the deputy chief of the Jakarta Police, confirmed that his investigators were being assisted by police from many countries.
"They came here to examine the crime scene and the case," he said on Monday.
According to Nanan, the international investigators would "study the bombing" and compare their findings with that of the Indonesian police.
Separately, National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis said that the presence of the officers from other countries would be beneficial for the investigation as "they have more sophisticated technology".
"They will not become team members of the investigation, they will only help with forensics. The investigation is being handled by local police," he made clear.