Indonesian arrested upon orders from Jakarta

Indonesian arrested upon orders from Jakarta

Yogita Tahilramani and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

Former intelligence chief Lt. Gen. (ret) Z.A. Maulani said on
Tuesday that the arrest of three Indonesian citizens in Manila
was based on an order issued by the Indonesian government under a
government-to-government arrangement with the Philippines.

Emphasizing that his remarks were based on a report from
security officials in the Philippines, he said that the
authorities in Manila had honored the request because it had been
issued by the Indonesian government.

"The arrests were made because the order came from the
authorities in Jakarta under a government-to-government
agreement. However, I do not know who gave the order
specifically," Maulani said, after meeting Vice President Hamzah
Haz.

Maulani made the remarks in response to the arrest of three
Indonesians in Manila last month for allegedly carrying
components used for high explosive devices. The detainees were
said to be members of radical Muslim groups in Jakarta.

One of the detainees, Tamsil Linrung, who was deputy treasurer
of the National Mandate Party (PAN), had earlier said that
Indonesian Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Hendropriyono
orchestrated the arrests for political reasons.

Hendropriyono and other high-ranking state officials have
denied this accusation.

There is no clear relation between Maulani and PAN, which is
chaired by Amien Rais, the speaker of the People's Consultative
Assembly. However, Maulani was intelligence chief during the
short tenure of former president B.J. Habibie.

Meanwhile, Amien Rais said that the arrest of the three
Indonesians might have been orchestrated, but fell short of
saying whether Indonesian intelligence was involved.

"The efforts of the Filipino authorities to develop new
charges against the three is obviously engineered," Amien said,
as quoted by Antara.

However, he could not say whether Indonesian intelligence was
involved. Amien also denied recently holding a meeting with
Hendropriyono after the arrests were made.

Separately, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf
said on Tuesday that the three arrested men told Indonesian
Police officers that they had been treated unfairly.

"The three have not been allowed to lay their eyes on the
evidence... which is allegedly plastic C4 material to make the C4
bomb. These three men have not seen this evidence," Saleh told
The Jakarta Post.

"The three believe that the charges laid against them by the
Filipino police have been fabricated... they feel trapped. They
say that the alleged bomb-making components do not belong to them
and they don't understand how the components got into their
luggage."

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said earlier that the
Indonesian Police have asked government officials to maximize
diplomatic efforts to get the three men released.