RI seeks U.S. help to deport convicted Maluku separatist
RI seeks U.S. help to deport convicted Maluku separatist
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian government said on Friday it was seeking
cooperation with the United States to deport convicted Maluku
separatist Hermanus Alexander Manuputty, who has been reported as
residing in Los Angeles.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty Natalegawa said:
"We have taken a diplomatic approach with the U.S. government to
express our concern and wish that he be located and repatriated,"
he told The Jakarta Post.
He said that quiet diplomacy was under way between the two
governments to determine measures to repatriate Manuputty, better
known as Alex.
"We are very confident that the U.S. government will support
us in bringing him back," Marty said, but declined to go into
details of the arrangement.
Alex fled to the U.S. early last year, although he had been
sentenced on Jan. 28, 2003 by the North Jakarta District Court to
three years in jail for treason. He filed an appeal, but the
higher court upheld his conviction.
He left Indonesia while he remained free pending a decision on
his appeal, before the Supreme Court dismissed it last November.
Marty said Alex arrived in the U.S. on Nov. 22 on a tourist
visa. "That is already an immigration violation, as he is not a
tourist," he said.
Alex's escape was a shock to the government, since he had been
banned from leaving the country since his conviction.
The Maluku separatist leader was charged with treason for
plotting a rebellion through his organization, the Maluku
Sovereignty Front (FKM), affiliated with the South Maluku
Republic (RMS), a separatist movement presumably quashed in the
1950s.
In an interview in Washington with the Jawa Pos daily, Alex
said he left Indonesia legally, on an Indonesian passport.
The convicted separatist said he was currently staying with
the Indonesian community in Los Angeles.
"Since I have been here, I have participated twice in rallies
at the Indonesian consulate general in Los Angeles," he said.
Marty, however, said Alex had never gone to the Indonesian
consulate in Los Angeles and the mission was trying to locate his
whereabouts.
Indonesia and the U.S. have no extradition treaty.
Nevertheless, in some cases the two countries have cooperated in
repatriating criminal suspects to Indonesia.
In 1995, U.S. authorities repatriated Indonesian suspect Oki,
who was charged with murdering two Indonesians and an Indian
citizen in Los Angeles.
The Indonesian police, with the help of their U.S.
counterpart, also arrested actress Zarima Mirasfur for drug
trafficking.
However, Alex's case is political, which could affect
Indonesia's efforts to bring him home to serve his sentence.