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.