Immigration gets intel directorate

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In response to intelligence failures in the tracking of transnational criminals, the government has set up a new intelligence directorate in the immigration office to more closely monitor people entering and leaving the country.

Justice minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said on Friday the failure to track transnational criminals was partly caused by a lack of coordination between intelligence units and the Attorney General's Office, the immigration office, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the National Intelligence Body and other bodies.

Intelligence failures were partly blamed for the Bali bombings in 2002, which were followed by a series of other bombings.

Unofficial investigations have found that intelligence officers within one country often fail to share information among themselves. The situation is even worse when it involves more than one country, even when there are strong indications of regional and international networking among terror suspects.

"Previously, (the intelligence unit) was only a division within the immigration office's supervision and penalty directorate. The directorate's tasks were enormous, so the intelligence unit was often quite neglected," Yusril said.

Haryo Sasongko, a former head of the West Java office of the justice ministry, was inaugurated on Friday as the new director of intelligence and immigrant investigation.

Intelligence officers will be posted at airports and seaports across the country to monitor both Indonesians and foreigners entering and leave the country.

The data they collect must be shared with other intelligence bodies, all of which fall under the coordination of the National Intelligence Body (BIN), Yusril said.

"The immigration office's intelligence plays an important part in preventing possible transnational crimes, including drug trafficking, terrorism and the trafficking in women and children," Yusril said.

The establishment of the intelligence directorate within the immigration office followed a meeting on political and security affairs, during which it was decided to improve the performance of state intelligence, Yusril said.

BIN is currently completing a bill on intelligence that will give the body the legal power to arrest suspects, which it says it needs to prevent terror attacks.

Activists have warned that the bill could endanger civil liberties by putting too much power in the hands of BIN, which would be allowed to set up offices at the provincial and district levels. They have expressed concern that BIN's new powers could be used to suppress political dissent.