Kornelius Purba

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.