Jones back in town and back at work

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

American terrorism expert Sidney Jones has resumed her work in Indonesia after her entry ban was lifted by the government last week.

Marking her first public appearance after the lifting of the ban, she addressed a two-day international conference on security challenges in the Asia-Pacific region in Jakarta, which began on Tuesday.

Jones, director of the Jakarta office of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG), arrived here last Friday.

"As a researcher, my client is free to conduct studies and to share views, attend seminars or to visit conflict-prone areas in Indonesia," Jones' lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said.

"I will file a protest if any restrictions are imposed on her in carrying out her work, which includes visiting conflict zones such as Aceh, Papua and Poso," he added.

Jones was denied entry to Indonesia on Nov. 23. Two days later, she was ordered to fly back out of Indonesia upon her arrival at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta Airport.

A week later, however, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono overruled the ban on Jones after it was met with a storm of criticism.

The reasons for the government's barring of Jones are still unclear. Some officials said they were only given effect to the previously imposed policy issued by the security authorities during the administration of president Megawati Soekarnoputri, while others said Jones had to change her "bad attitude".

Speculation was rife that the ban was imposed for her critical reports on the activities of the intelligence and other security authorities in the troubled areas, where they were accused of abusing human rights.

The two-day conference, sponsored by the Council for Security Cooperation in Asia Pacific, was closed to the press on Tuesday. Susilo failed to open the meeting on Tuesday as scheduled as he was still visiting Magelang, Central Java.

Jones, mostly known here for her in-depth reports on the al- Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah terror group, served as a panelist in a session on countering terrorism along with former Philippine commander-in-chief Gen. Narciso Abaya and Indonesianist Greg Fealy from the Australian National University.

Other speakers included East Timor's Senior Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Jose Ramos-Horta, Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer, U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia B. Lynn Pascoe and former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas.