JCLEC gets Rp 120b grant from Holland

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Netherlands' top counter terrorism official will visit Indonesia this week within the framework of Dutch support for the Jakarta Center for Law Enforcement Cooperation (JCLEC) located Semarang, Central Java, the Dutch embassy in Jakarta announced on Monday.

"The Netherlands Special Ambassador on Counter-Terrorism Ronald Mollinger will arrive in Jakarta on Tuesday. Then, he will go to Semarang on Wednesday to lay the first stone of the JCLEC residential quarters for students and teachers," embassy spokeswoman Usha Gopie told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Gopie said that the residential quarters will be built with a grant of 5.3 euros (Rp 65 billion) from the Netherlands government. Another Dutch grant of 5 million euros (Rp 61.3 billion) will be provided to the center later this year for capacity building and curriculum development.

JCLEC was opened in July 2004 as part of a joint initiative between Indonesia and Australia. However, the Netherlands has emerged as the second largest contributor to the JCLEC after Australia.

The main objectives of the center are to improve operational expertise of law enforcement personnel in Indonesia and other countries, and to share information and experience. It will also work closely with other similar bodies such as the South-East Asian Regional Centre for Counter-Terrorism in Kuala Lumpur and the International Law Enforcement Academy in Bangkok.