Wrongful arrest gives Rahmat neighbor trouble

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

The front gate to the 36 sq m house on Jl. Merak 3 in Waru, Sidoarjo municipality, East Java, is latched every day. Only a bicycle is visible, parked behind a bamboo screen on the front porch.

"This is how my rented house looks every day, nothing special," Rahmatulloh, or Rahmat, told The Jakarta Post recently.

Rahmat's house is quite modest. Only a red carpet is spread out in the sitting room, which has not a single chair. A small table in a corner spills over with books, mostly on economics, a subject in which he has a keen interest. He has lived here for two years with his family.

"Aren't you afraid to come inside the house? You might be arrested," he said jokingly.

Rahmat, 26, a cake seller and Muslim preacher who studied at Bhayangkara University, is one of three people who were questioned by the Sidoarjo and East Java police departments in connection with the Sept. 9 bombing at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.

Besides Rahmat, his wife Farida and friend Agung Yulianto were suspected of being connected to the East Java terrorist cell of Malaysian bombing suspects Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohd. Top.

East Java Police believed that Rahmat's house was used to hold initiation rites for jihad militants, and moved to arrest him upon tip-offs from locals.

Rahmat believed that Oki, Nanang and Hilmi had reported to police that his house was often used as a gathering place for Muslim hard-liners. The three were at his house when plainclothes officers arrived, but they were not arrested.

"I'm sure they were the informants. We were introduced by mutual friends," he said.

Oki, Nanang and Hilmi often came to the house to speak with Rahmat. "We talked about many things, from politics to religion," Rahmat said, but did not expect the discussions would be relayed to the police. "Maybe, after that, I was suspected as a member of the terrorist group."

During the arrest, police claimed to have found information and documents in Arabic discarded in a well. Rahmat was also suspected of hiding other documents, including a list of names and teachings connected to the Azahari-Top network.

"It's just a ruse. The Arabic documents were just notes written by a fellow student during lectures at IAIN (State Academy of Islamic Studies), not the names of terrorists," said Rahmat, smiling.

The tall, slim and soft-spoken man was not perturbed by the charges against him.

"If I was connected to the terrorists, I wouldn't be here. I would have fled to somewhere," he said. He was certain the charges were unsubstantiated. "After the interrogation, the police couldn't prove my involvement with the terrorists or the blast in Jakarta, so I was released," he said.

But the damage has already been done. His arrest has had negative repercussions, one of which was to ruin his family's reputation in the neighborhood.

"Many times, the neighbors will look at my house with disgust, blaming me for the Kuningan blast," he said ruefully.

The police, who are currently busy looking for suspects implicated in the Kuningan blast, should clear his name, he said. "But, they have not apologized yet, and it's painful," he said.

"I feel sorry for my wife. I don't know how she would feel if the neighbors stopped accepting her, and kept suspecting me of being a terrorist," he said. Rahmat and Farida have a new baby.

He hoped that others who might be arrested in connection to the Kuningan blast, would not suffer a similar persecution by neighbors upon unfounded suspicions.