Indonesia must seek help to fight 'terrorism'
Indonesia must seek help to fight 'terrorism'
Indonesia clearly cannot control its security forces, whether
or not there was a political conspiracy behind the killings of
three United Nations workers in East Nusa Tenggara. Hence the
President should use his presence at the UN Summit to seek help,
says Mochtar Masoed,, who teaches international affairs at the
Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University.
Question: What should Indonesia do after the Atambua killings?
Answer: If the attack on the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) office in Atambua was considered part of a
terror campaign against President Abdurrahman Wahid's government
then we can assume there are conspirators.
The fact is they have sophisticated equipment to ferment
chaos, like explosives, and the methods to mobilize people.
So the issue here is precisely how, through this tragedy, the
government can use its diplomatic skills to mobilize
international support against terrorism, which it says is linked
to outside parties. We could then get an international agreement
to face this security problem.
This would enable us to settle many problems because our
president is sure that the roots of the country's many internal
difficulties are outside the country. And either the mechanisms
or the resources to settle the problems are not available here.
Q: So you agree that what happened was part of a conspiracy?
A: It might be true that the various incidents were aimed at
undermining Gus Dur's (Abdurrahman's) government but I don't
think it can be simply said that they were well coordinated ...
Security forces here are not well coordinated, particularly
the intelligence (unit) ... as was indicated by the abduction of
activists in Soeharto's time.
There are likely people remaining from the (1970s) operations
related to East Timor, who would be hard to track down.
Q: Isn't foreign support for security a sensitive issue?
A: It doesn't have to mean intervention. Supplies for acts of
terrorism include those from outside the country, so we need
information on the likely routes (of supply). There can be both
formal channels like Interpol and other channels ...
Actually, the government has already started this (through
diplomacy). But it needs to intensify foreign support for this
purpose, such as helping us with information.
Gus Dur is now meeting with foreign leaders (at the UN
Millennium Summit) and he could raise the sympathy of at least
close countries like China.
If the incident was related to breakaway elements in the
military, the government cannot just go on with consolidation
inside the country. It needs foreign support.
There would be risks, like the allegation of not being
nationalist, an accusation often used by such elements to resist
international support.
In short, because the government cannot control its soldiers
can the international community help to solve this problem?
Gus Dur must take up the issue internationally.
Q: What's the likely impact of the Atambua killings on our
efforts to overcome problems in Aceh and Irian Jaya?
A: At negotiation tables the government has lost its credibility
as it cannot promise that its guarantees of security will be paid
attention to by subordinates.
In negotiations with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), for
instance, GAM will judge that ... the government is very weak.
That's why the humanitarian pause in Aceh can't be effective; the
government can't control the soldiers so there's no way
negotiating partners can have any respect.
The most basic function of a state is maintaining security.
And in the case of Atambua, the state has failed to protect
foreigners who worked for the UN humanitarian program.
So surely we could say the failure was led by political
intrigue and we could raise conspiracy theories. But in the
diplomatic world it is difficult to keep up with these excuses.
In addition, the tragedy was dramatized by the e-mail which
was sent by one of the victims (prior to his death) ... Also,
we've never had friends at the UN when it comes to East Timor.
Several countries with economic interests in Indonesia that
once supported us over East Timor will now have increasing doubts
after this West Timor incident ...
International bodies including nongovernmental organizations
will increasingly demand protection ...
Also, negotiations involving economic aid may decrease.
After the evacuation of UNHCR staff, we will now have to take
care of the refugees ourselves, which total thousands ...
Q: How far can the world accept that the incident was part of a
plot to humiliate the President, as he has suggested?
A: The world will demand that we settle this case if it was
indeed related to internal political conflicts.
The case is totally different from the death of Australian
journalists in the 1970s in East Timor when we could argue it was
at a time of war...
Q: Some people, including speaker of the legislature Akbar
Tandjung, have said cases related to East Timor are no longer our
responsibility and that the incident might have involved East
Timorese who were disappointed with alleged cheating in last
year's self-determination ballot. Your comment?
A: That's unacceptable, Indonesia is part of the UN and the scene
(of the crime) took place in Indonesia. According to any law
Indonesia is involved. Defensive attitudes are quite common ...
Everyone knew the proindependence side would win if a referendum
was held. (Asip A. Hasani)