Illegal guns enter Indonesia through four countries

Illegal guns enter Indonesia through four countries

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Arms smuggled into the country from Thailand, Malaysia, the
Philippines and Australia have been responsible for fueling the
violence in conflicts across the nation, a senior intelligence
officer said on Tuesday.

State Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy chief Brig. Gen. Bom
Soerjanto said that the illegal arms trade highlighted the need
for cooperation with neighboring countries.

"There is an agreement for close cooperation (with ASEAN
members) as it is assumed that these developments threaten
regional stability," Bom said in his paper presented during a
discussion on transnational crimes among ASEAN members.

Smugglers in Thailand and Malaysia, he said, had supplied arms
to separatists in Aceh and Irian Jaya, as well as warring Muslim
and Christian groups in Maluku.

The Philippines has also sold arms to warring groups in
Maluku, while separatists in Papua have bought additional arms
from Australia.

Bom said the rise in small arms trafficking came on the heels
of an increase in armed conflicts, which have spurred demand for
the weapons.

Indonesia has become a hotbed of communal conflicts since
1998, with the addition of possible terrorist activities.

The outbreak of violence has been attributed to the collapse
of law and order that followed the 1998 downfall of Soeharto and
his iron grip over the sprawling archipelago.

A paper by the customs and excise office quoting the March
2001 edition of Jane's Intelligence Review cited Thailand, India,
Hong Kong, Taiwan and Sabah in Malaysia as transit points for
smuggled arms.

The magazine listed China, North Korea, Cambodia, Myanmar and
Pakistan as among the producers or key suppliers of smuggled
arms.

Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence (ISI), it said, had
access to three million AK-47s stockpiled from the Afghanistan
war against Russia. Of that amount, about 70 percent had
disappeared.

"The number of arms-producing countries has grown, so there is
more access for those who wish to own these illegal weapons," the
paper said.

It said the trade of small and light arms was lucrative since
they were mobile, inexpensive, durable, required minimum
maintenance and there was a high demand for them.

Falling under the category of small arms were, among other
things, self-loading pistols, rifles, submachine guns, assault
rifles and light machine guns.

One notch up the scale are light arms, such as heavy machine
guns, portable rocket launchers and antiaircraft missile systems.

The paper said 19 countries in the Asia Pacific region had
produced small arms, including Indonesia and five other ASEAN
members.

"This region is host to the various armed conflicts and
rebellions, making trafficking and the use of illegal arms more
widespread and uncontrollable," it said.

With a coastline stretching 81,000 kilometers and 17,506
islands dotting the country, Indonesia's territory is difficult
to guard by any standard.

Adding to this is the poor condition of the Navy and the
National Police in charge of curbing smuggling activities.

Director of the Police Intelligence Body Brig. Gen. T. Ashikin
Husein said the police force was undermanned and under-equipped
to make any difference in the struggle against curbing arms
smuggling.

He said smugglers owned speed boats that were much faster than
those used by the police. "They wave goodbye to us every time we
try to go after them."

The government's chief negotiator in talks with the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM), Wiryono Sastrohandoyo, said that Indonesia must
increase its cooperation with other countries to stem the inflow
of illegal arms.

Quoting research conducted by an Australian Federal Police
analyst, Sandy Gordon, he said that the Asia Pacific region
covered just three percent of the entire Interpol operation,
indicating the minimal use of available resources to fight
transnational crimes.

ASEAN has signed several agreements to fight transnational
crimes together, but Wiryono said Indonesia's main contribution
should come from maintaining national stability.