Ministers to brief Pope over bombings
JAKARTA (JP): Two cabinet ministers will soon leave for the Vatican to brief Pope John Paul II on the Christmas Eve bombings, Spokesman for the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs I Wayan Karya said on Wednesday.
"We hope, the two ministers -- Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab and Minister of Religious Affairs Tolchah Hasan -- explain about the bombings at the Indonesian churches.
"The explanation is needed to avoid any misunderstanding about the incidents," I Wayan said in a media briefing after a limited ministerial meeting on political and security affairs on Wednesday.
A staffer at the Foreign Ministry said that Alwi would also make a one-week official trip to Austria and Syria.
The Wednesday coordinative meeting, aimed at preparing materials for the Cabinet meeting today (Thursday), was chaired by Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
"The decision on when the two ministers will travel to the Vatican will be made in the Cabinet meeting on Thursday," I Wayan said.
Present at the meeting were Alwi Shihab, Minister of Defense Mahfud MD, Attorney General Marzuki Darusman, Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Adm. Widodo AS, Minister of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure Erna Witoelar and Assistant for Operations to the National Police chief Insp. Gen. Sutiyono.
The bombing incidents at nine churches in seven Indonesian provinces that claimed at least 18 lives and injured dozens of others, has received strong criticism from the international community, including Pope John Paul, who condemned the violence in his Christmas message.
All the three Jakarta churches hit by the bombs -- the Katedral, Canisius church and Santo Yosef church -- were Roman Catholic.
I Wayan said the government would consider the proposal by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas Ham) to set up a joint fact-finding team to investigate the bombings.
"I am concerned that we can avoid an overlap in the investigation. Komnas HAM can help us, but they cannot conduct the investigation," he said.
"The government has established the panel consisting of seven high-ranking security officers and representatives of the Indonesian Forum for Peace (FID)," he added.
FID is a voluntary council set up by activists soon after the Christmas bombings as an effort to help the government identify the perpetrators of the bombings.
Separately, a police source said on Wednesday that a radical youth wing of a political party was under intense investigation in connection with the Christmas Eve bombings.
"The youth wing, whose name is not for publication, is under intense investigation. All I can say is that the people behind the Christmas Eve bombings are most likely the same people who were behind the Jakarta Stock Exchange bombings last year," the source said.
"The only (thing) I can tell you is that this youth wing can easily enter any section of Indonesian society."
The source added that the Barringer's Ionscan Model 400B -- a security device that can detect and identify trace amounts of explosives or drugs -- noted that samples collected from the Christmas Eve bombings showed a "substantial amount of TNT (the flammable toxic compound trinitrotoluene) in the conventional bombs."
"The question is who owns the TNT?" the source asked.
In a separate development, President Director of state-owned insurance firm PT Jamsostek A. Djunaidi handed over some Rp 6 million (US$638) in financial aid on Tuesday night for three bomb victims, who are still undergoing treatment at the Saint Carolus Hospital, according to a press statement.
The three victims -- Petrus S., Selestus Pancar and Bahariwan -- were members of the Workers Social Protection Scheme of Jamsostek. (02/dja/ylt)