Sri Lankan terror expert arrested in Maluku
Sri Lankan terror expert arrested in Maluku
M. Azis Tunny, The Jakarta Post, Ambon
A Singapore-based professor and expert on terror issues was
arrested for traveling around Maluku without proper research
documents, a senior police officer revealed on Thursday.
Rohan Kumar Gunaratna from Sri Lanka, was arrested by an
antiterror police unit on Monday while he was on his way to Ambon
from Seram Island, said Maluku provincial police spokesman Adj.
Sr. Comr. Artsianto.
In addition to Gunaratna, the officers also arrested his
Indonesian translator and his local guide, said Artsianto.
They captured the three as their boat was approaching Ambon
city, the capital of Maluku province.
The police detained Gunaratna because he failed to show a
document that allowed him to carry out research on terror cells
in the conflict-ravaged province. Gunaratna was charged with
violating the law on immigration and will be deported in the near
future, while his two Indonesian accomplices would be set free,
said Artsianto.
Gunaratna is a professor and the chairman of the Institute of
Defense and Strategic Studies (IDSS) based in Singapore, which is
known to have produced a wide range of articles and books on
international politics, terror and strategic defense. He is one
of Asia's foremost experts on terror issues and is regularly
invited to speak at conferences and seminars on the subject
throughout the world, including Indonesia.
Gunaratna's presence in Maluku was considered "sensitive"
because Maluku was classified as a conflict zone from 1999 to
2002. The Christian-Muslim battles first broke out six years ago
and lasted nearly three years until representatives of the two
warring groups signed a government-sponsored pact in 2002.
Thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands of
others were forced to flee to temporary shelters. But, despite
the peace deal, sporadic explosions and fatal shootings still
plague the province. The latest was an explosion in a market in
Ambon last month that left nine people injured.
As the situation was gradually returning to a semblance of
normalcy, public apprehension again rose after media reports that
Maluku had become a safe haven for terror suspects, who were
planning terror attacks throughout Southeast Asia. Such reports
have attracted the attention of researchers and scholars,
including Gunaratna.
The deportation of foreign scholars is not new in this
country. Last year foreign scholar Sidney Jones, the Southeast
Asia Director of the International Crisis Group (ICG) was not
given a renewal on her visa, for unspecified reasons, but has
since returned. Earlier this year, an Australian academic was
barred entry as he was on his way to Aceh to work with an NGO in
the aftermath of the tsunami.