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.