Kornelius Purba The Jakarta Post

Intel inside: Fear or security provider?

Why is Indonesia so similar to a personal computer?

Because most PCs have Intel Inside, and there is rarely a place in Indonesia that has not been infiltrated by the intelligence network inside.

Cynics, who do not have sense of nationalism or patriotism, often -- irresponsibly -- cite anecdotes to make jokes about the quality of Indonesian intelligence. They call it Intel Melayu (Malay intelligence agent, cowboy agent). Contrary to the normal secretive requirement for an agent, this Malay agent always has his revolver visible on his waist band so everyone knows he has a gun.

"This is a state secret. I'm only leaking it to you, don't tell anyone else," that is his trademark statement to his friends. Of course state secrets then become public knowledge.

During Soeharto's era, military, especially Army, intelligence networks reached at the lowest formal hierarchy in the society, down to the neighborhood units (RT) in the most remote areas in the country. Indonesia was a state of intelligence at that time. The main purpose was to ensure that Soeharto could sleep well knowing of any attempts -- even the very, very small ones -- to disturb his power. There was no real espionage, in the normal sense, the agents often worked so openly that nearly everybody knew they were around to monitor the citizens' activities on a 24-hour basis.

That is why Soeharto was so generous to the Army but had little interest in developing the Air Force and the Navy because the biggest threat for his power did not come from outside but from his own people. Soeharto loved to get "happy news" from his intelligence officers, although the impact was often politically fatal for him. Just a few weeks before his collapse in May 1998, they told him that most people still loved him very much and could not live without him.

Soeharto's successor, B.J. Habibie also received intelligence reports that Indonesia would easily win the independence referendum in August 1999 in East Timor. More than 78 percent of the voters however said,"enough is enough for Indonesia."

As evidenced by the kidnappings and disappearances of anti- Soeharto activists not long before his fall -- allegedly by an elite unit of the Army -- the country's best trained soldiers also had to work for the mission to eliminate anyone who was against Soeharto. Human rights activist Munir outspokenly demanded that the government release the missing victims and put the offending officers on trial.

The result? He was poisoned during a Garuda flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam via Singapore last year. A government- sanctioned fact-finding team strongly suspects the involvement of National Intelligence Agency (BIN) in the poisoning. BIN's former chief, Hendropriyono denied the allegations. So who then poisoned Munir?

It is possible that the retired Army general did not know that some of his officers had abused their power. The trial of Brig. Gen. (ret) Zyaeri in a Jakarta court for counterfeiting showed how easy it is for BIN officials to manipulate their authority to enrich themselves. According to Zyaeri's testimony in the court on Wednesday, the retired police officer printed fake money at the BIN office although his boss only ordered him to make an intelligence study on fake money.

Despite reforms and progress in enforcing democracy, the mindset of the country's intelligence agencies apparently still have not changed significantly and also their massive presence in the society. People hope that intelligence agencies will boost the sense of security and safety in society. But the poisoning of Munir showed it was still more effective in spreading fear instead. When will we be able to say we are proud of our intelligence ability? When will we be able to say,"We can live without the press but not without intelligence," because the agency is so vital in ensuring our prosperity and security.

Now, why is it so difficult to arrest suspected Malaysian terrorists Azahari and Nurdin Top? Is it because these two Malay criminals are smarter than our Malay agents? Of course these two terrorists operate with computer technology: Intel inside.