Palaguna to send Dwikarna's family to Davao

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.