Jones shown the door ... again!

Jones shown the door ... again!

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The immigration office has denied American terrorism expert
Sidney Jones entry to the country without explanation despite the
fact that she is in possession of a temporary stay permit and
work visa.

Jones, who heads the Jakarta office of the International
Crisis Group (ICG), was forced to board another flight out of
Indonesia as soon as she arrived at Soekarno-Hatta Airport after
a brief trip to Taiwan on Thursday.

"I don't understand. If there was a problem you would have
thought they would have called me in or raised the question while
I was in Jakarta, giving me some chance to respond," Jones told
Agence France-Presse news agency on Friday.

Immigration office spokesman Supriatna Anwar refused to
explain why Jones had been refused entry.

"According to the law, there are immigration considerations
that can be used to deny a foreign national entry, such as
whether his or her entry benefits the country or not, or whether
he or she could damage the interests of the state," Supriatna
said.

He refused to reveal which institution had requested that
Jones be denied entry.

The immigration office issued the ban on Wednesday, and it is
effective for one year.

Supriatna said he was unaware that Jones had secured a stay
permit and work visa in July, soon after her one-year ban
expired.

The government of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri
refused to extend Jones' stay permit and work visa in May last
year at the request of the intelligence authorities following her
revealing reports on Indonesia's poor human rights record and
communal conflicts around the country.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yuri Thamrin confirmed on Friday
that a ban had been imposed on Jones.
 "I've received information from our clearing house that the
restriction is being applied to Ibu Jones. However, there
is a possibility that it will be reviewed in due course," Yuri
said.
 The clearing house is a special government committee
consisting of officials from the foreign ministry, intelligence
agency, Indonesian military, the police and the immigration
office that has the final say on whether to allow foreign
researchers and journalists to visit Indonesia or conflict-prone
areas across the country.
 Yuri said the government did not necessarily have to disclose
the reasons for the ban as the decision was in line with
international law.

Meanwhile, Jones' lawyer, Todung Mulya Lubis, condemned the
entry ban, saying it was a set-back for Indonesian democracy.

"I've called (justice) Minister Hamid Awaluddin, but he said
he was not aware of it. So, who did this? This will be a real
set-back for our democracy if we ban people simply because they
are critical.

"If the government feels she is too critical, why don't they
respond to her criticisms?" he told The Jakarta Post.

Funded by foreign governments and private foundations, the
Brussels-based ICG provides reports on conflict areas, such as
Aceh, Papua and Ambon, but Jones is mostly known for her in-depth
reports on Jamaah Islamiyah, the al-Qaeda-linked terror network
now blamed for major attacks in the country since 2002.