Palaguna to send Dwikarna's family to Davao
Jupriadi, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi
In a gesture of goodwill, South Sulawesi Governor H.Z.B. Palaguna is scheduled on Friday to send the immediate family members of Agus Dwikarna, an Indonesian national convicted of possessing bomb-making components in the Philippines, to Davao, the Philippines.
The South Sulawesi administration will pay the airfares for Agus' wife and children.
"Agus is a decent citizen and deserves to be provided with facilities and help from the local administration. He is a good man who had actively contributed to peace efforts in the Gowa regency (in South Sulawesi)," Palaguna told The Jakarta Post in Makassar, on Wednesday.
Held on suspicion of terrorism in March, Agus was sentenced on July 12 to a minimum of 10 years in prison, and a maximum of 17 years for illegal possession of explosives.
Judge Henrick Gingoyon also ordered Agus to pay a fine of 50,000 pesos (US$1,000) after he found Agus "guilty beyond reasonable doubt" of possessing C-4 plastic explosive.
In Jakarta, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said earlier that the government had encouraged Agus to appeal the verdict but stressed that Indonesia would not interfere in the judicial process.
Unlike in the case of two other Indonesian nationals, Abdul Jamal Balfas and Tamsil Linrung, who were arrested on March 13 at Ninoy Aquino Airport along with Agus on the same charges, President Megawati Soekarnoputri noticeably did not intervene in Agus' police investigation.
Businessman Abdul Jamal Balfas and former treasurer of the National Mandate Party (PAN), Tamsil Linrung, have long since been released.
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais currently chairs PAN.
Along with members of the Upholders of Sharia Islam (KPSI), Tamsil met with Palaguna on Friday for an hour to discuss the matter of Agus, and the sending of Agus' wife and family to the Philippines.
"We also explained to the governor (Palaguna) the presence of an intelligence report that could discredit Agus," Tamsil said, adding that the report included unsubstantiated statements, for example that Agus had trained terrorists in Poso.
Agus was arrested with Abdul and Tamsil while about to board a flight to Bangkok. Philippine police allegedly found explosive devices in their luggage.
During their brief visit to the Philippines, the three were said to have met with associates of another Indonesian, Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, who is now serving a 12-year-jail sentence also in the Philippines for illegal possession of explosives.
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo ordered Tamsil and Abdul to be freed in April after the Indonesian government protested. Philippine police said there was a lack of evidence against the two.
A justice official in the Philippines, Jose Calida, said that Agus had also been implicated in fatal bomb attacks in Manila in December 2000 and in a bomb attack on the Philippines Embassy in Jakarta in the same year.
He said the information had been provided by one of 13 Jemaah Islamiyah suspects arrested in Singapore in December on suspicion they were plotting to bomb U.S. targets in the island state.
Indonesia has refrained from defending Agus, arguing that it will respect the legal process taking place in the neighboring country.