[Marinir] Indonesia Digest: No.19.07 - 10 July 2007

[Yap Hong Gie]

INDONESIA DIGEST
Indonesia's complex Issues in a Nutshell
By: Ms. Wuryastuti Sunario
Published by: TBSC-Strategic Communication
No.: 19.07 - Dated: 10 July 2007
In this issue:

MAIN FEATURE:

EU 'MISINFORMED' ON INDONESIA'S PRESENT AIR SAFETY, SAYS ICAO CHIEF

NEWS AND BACKGROUND:

1.      Tourism and Transportation:
Indonesia and  ICAO join hands to enhance Aviation Safety

2.      The Economy, Trade and Industry:
US  Offers Indonesia Debt-for-Nature Swap

4.   Politics and Security:
Australia renews travel warning despite Indonesian Police arrest of Top JI 
Terrorist Leaders
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MAIN FEATURE:

EU 'MISINFORMED' ON INDONESIA'S PRESENT AIR SAFETY, SAYS ICAO CHIEF

by Tuti Sunario
for Indonesia Digest

The EU is "misinformed" on present Airline Safety conditions in Indonesia, 
concluded ICAO President of Council, Roberto Kobeh Gonzales, after 
inspection of Garuda Indonesia Maintenance Facility (GMF) in Jakarta 
Thursday, 6 July.

ICAO's President, Gonzales assessed that "There is nothing wrong with the 
air safety management in Indonesia", although EU had imposed a ban on 
Indonesian airlines to fly to Europe, quoted Bisnis Indonesia on 7 July.

On 28 June, EU Transport Commission recommended that the EU ban all 
Indonesian airlines flying to Europe and Europeans from flying Indonesian 
airlines, on grounds of safety.

To correct the misinformation, Gonzales recommends that the Indonesian 
government take the road of negotiation to solve the impasse caused by the 
EU ban. The government should clarify transparently to EU on Indonesia's air 
safety present conditions in order to prevent further misinformation, and to 
allow other countries outside EU to receive more accurate information on the 
Indonesian airline industry.
Gonzales said that he trusted the serious commitments made by Indonesia to 
improve the airline industry, because measures that had been taken so far, 
he considered "were accurate".

Prior to inspecting the GMF hangar Gonzales said that he was assured that 
all involved in Indonesia's airline safety are committed to increase air 
safety in the country and of the airline industry.

On Friday, 6 July, EU Ambassador to Indonesia, Jean Breteche, handed over a 
letter from the EU confirming that the Union has adopted recommendations 
made by its Air Safety Commission, which will come into force starting 6 
July. The letter mentions that all Indonesian airlines are prohibited to fly 
into any EU country and that accordingly, EU has informed all its citizens 
not to use Indonesian airlines anywhere in the world.
"I know Indonesia has been making a lot of efforts to improve the safety of 
planes since the beginning of the year, and I hope we can reverse this 
decision as soon as possible," EU ambassador to Indonesia Jean Breteche said 
Friday in Jakarta, as reported by the Jakarta Post.


Indonesia urges EU to send audit team and reverse its ban soonest

Based on the latest communications and request from the Indonesian 
Government, EU promised to send an inspection team to Indonesia to assess 
the latest situation.
But Breteche said that the first opportunity to have the ban lifted would 
come in three months' time as the decision was effective for a period of 
three months. Indonesia, however, urges that EU reverses its rules before 
the three months, as soon as it received confirmation from this audit team.

In the press conference, Director General for Air Communications, Budhi 
Suyitno, informed that Indonesia would not take any retaliatory measures, 
despite the fact that the Indonesian Government considers the EU ban was 
made unilaterally, disregarding reciprocity and without the Union having 
made its own audit. Instead, the Indonesian government has invited the EU 
delegation to send a team to verify for themselves the exact air safety 
conditions at present, rather than rely their ban on secondary sources. (see 
also Indonesia Digest 18.07).
Budhi Suyitno said the ban was unfair and claimed the Commission had never 
given Indonesia a proper opportunity to give its side of the story.
"We object to the decision, especially if it was only made on account of 
administrative reasons," Budhi said.

Breteche, on his side, vehemently denied Budhi's allegations, saying that 
the commission had given Indonesia ample opportunities to present its case. 
"We tried to consult with Indonesia a long time ago.
We sent two letters, one on April 2 and one on May 21, to ask for 
information from the authorities. But there was no reply."

European air safety experts arrived at their conclusions on the state of 
Indonesian airline safety -- which was the reason why the Commission issued 
the ban -- based mainly on the latest reports and information from 
Indonesia's air safety authorities, as well as some from the U.S. Department 
of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the 
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Breteche said, as quoted 
by the Jakarta Post.


Japan and Australia satisfied with Garuda Indonesia Safety Audit

Meanwhile, Garuda Indonesia Operations Director, Ari Sapari, informed that 
Japan has ascertained not to follow the EU ban, and Japan has not issued a 
warning to its citizens from flying Indonesian airlines. Garuda's Branch 
Manager in Tokyo received this confirmation from the Japanese Government on 
4 July, since as ICAO member Japan refers to ICAO rulings, and ICAO has not 
issued such ban.
Satisfied with the results of a safety audit on a Garuda Indonesia airplane, 
Japan's Civil Aviation Bureau (CAB) announced last week that the carrier was 
allowed to operate in the country.
After a day-long audit Friday, the CAB inspection team concluded that Garuda 
was committed to complying with Japan's airline security and safety 
regulations. The CAB said there was no reason for the Japanese government to 
ban its citizens from flying with Garuda, wrote Jakarta Post.

Garuda has daily flights from to Tokyo via Denpasar and Jakarta and flies 
four times a week from Jakarta to Osaka.
Last year, 387,571 passengers flew on Garuda to Japan, while 157,183 have 
traveled on the same routes since the beginning of this year.
Garuda spokesperson Pudjobroto said the airline was planning to reopen its 
Nagoya route, which was closed in 2004 following the impact of the second 
Bali bombing on the travel industry.
Along similar lines, confirmation was given by Australian Prime Minister, 
John Howard, based on findings of Australia's own audit team. John Howard 
said that the Australian government was satisfied with Garuda Indonesia's 
safety precautions.


Press Comments:

In its latest edition, Balidiscovery.com editorial emphasized that despite 
recent mishaps, Indonesian airlines, including Garuda, do not hold the 
dubious distinction of causing a record number of air fatalities.
A visit to a website tracking airline fatalities show a large number of 
other international air carriers have much more lethal histories, including 
American Airlines, China Airlines, Air India, Japan Airlines, Korean Air, 
Pan Am, Saudi Arabia Airlines, Thai Airways and United Airlines.

. Other statistics that explore fatalities per flown air mile would 
similarly show that, on a whole, Indonesian airlines do not merit being 
singled out as anything approaching cavalier on matters of aviation safety.

. The far-reaching decision to generalize and label all Indonesian carriers 
as "unsafe" apparently was done by the "Eurocrats" in Brussels at a distance 
without the aid of a direct audit. Jean Breteche,
the EU Ambassador to Jakarta, admitted as much in the Jakarta Post this 
week, saying that the decision to impose "blacklisting" was done after the 
Indonesian aviation authorities failed to respond to two letters inviting 
them to air consultations. This statement suggests that the current aviation 
warning has more to do with pique than any concrete information on the true 
status of Indonesian aviation, says balidiscovery.com.
Meanwhile, Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia, Nicolas Van Dam, after meeting 
President Yudhoyono, promised to convince other European countries on recent 
measures taken by the Indonesian government to ensure Indonesia's air 
safety, because the Ambassador said, the ban has very wide implications 
especially on Indonesia's tourism development.


Off-the Beaten Track villages bracing for empty tourist peak season

In the interim, Director General for Tourism Marketing, Thamrin Bachri 
informed the industry that the large European tour operators had informed 
him that based on EU ban, they have ceased accepting
new bookings for Indonesia tours until the end of August, and were rerouting 
those groups already on the road.

Already Indonesia's outlying areas are bracing themselves for a drastic fall 
in tourist arrivals in the next three months, - normally the tourist peak 
season, - and villagers must now seek whatever alternative jobs are 
available to patch up their meager income to be able to provide food and 
education for their families (Jakarta, 10 July 2007)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEWS AND BACKGROUND:


1.      Tourism and Transportation:

Indonesia and  ICAO join hands to enhance Aviation Safety
The Indonesian government and the International Aviation Organization (ICAO) 
signed a joint declaration in Bali on Monday, 2 July, to enhance aviation 
safety in the country, wrote Prodita Sabarini for the Jakarta Post.
After the signing, ICAO Council President, Roberto Kobeh Gonzales said, 
Indonesia's civil aviation problems stemmed from the massive expansion that 
the local industry has seen in the past five years, which had put heavy 
pressure on regulators trying to keep pace with the demands of a rapidly 
expanding market.
Gonzales said that Indonesia needed to show it had a strong political will 
to improve its aviation sector.  "Indonesia must act quickly and decisively 
to regain the confidence of the world's aviation community and the traveling 
public," he said on the sidelines of Indonesia's Strategic Summit on Civil 
Aviation Services. Indonesia is one of the ICAO Council's 190 contracting 
states.
Under the joint declaration, the government will strengthen the 
Transportation Ministry's Directorate General of Civil Aviation's safety 
oversight capabilities.
To achieve that, Director General for Civil Aviation Budi Mulyawan Suyitno 
said that the government is increasing the budget for safety to Rp 900 
billion next year, from Rp 500 billion this year.
The government will also comply with ICAO rules that require member states 
to establish safety management programs for all players involved, including 
traffic service providers, aerodrome and aircraft operators as well as 
maintenance organizations, reports the Jakarta Post.


2.      The Economy, Trade and Industry:

US  Offers Indonesia Debt-for-Nature Swap
Abdul Khalik for the Jakarta Post reports that The United States has agreed 
to include Indonesia in a debt-for-nature swap that will involve US$19.6 
million of the country's debt to the U.S. being used to finance tropical 
forest conservation programs.
The U.S. Embassy here said in a statement that under the Tropical Forest 
Conservation Act (TFCA), a portion of Indonesia's debt could be reduced and 
re-directed to finance conservation of the country's tropical forest, 
considered as one of the world's largest and most diverse.
"The U.S. Treasury Department will provide a provisional allocation of $19.6 
million for the treatment of eligible debt. Initial discussions toward an 
agreement are expected to begin in the coming weeks,"
the embassy said. It added that once concluded, the swap package for 
Indonesia would be one of the largest under the TFCA.
Indonesian Forestry Minister M.S. Kaban welcomed the U.S. announcement as a 
beginning of a bold measure to conserve the country's forest.  "This is good 
news," he said during a meeting with representatives from the U.S. Embassy.
The embassy said the U.S. government welcomed Indonesia's participation in 
the program as it recognized the country's forests as some of the most 
significant and biologically diverse in the world.
Foreign Ministry director for American affairs Harry Purwanto also hailed 
the announcement, saying Indonesia's proposal for the debt swap had paid 
off.
"We submitted proposals for debt swaps to several countries, and the 
proposal to the U.S. was one of them. We hope more countries agree to our 
proposals," he told The Jakarta Post.
With outstanding sovereign foreign debt of $74.1 billion, Indonesia must pay 
around $7.8 billion a year on the interest and principal.
The embassy said that to date, 11 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin 
America had entered into debt-for-nature agreements under the TFCA.
"These agreements will generate more than $135 million to conserve important 
tropical forest in these countries over the course of 10 to 25 years," it 
said.
The embassy said the program might be expanded to include coral reefs, often 
referred to as the rain forest of the sea.
This year, the Indonesian government has earmarked Rp 4.1 trillion ($454 
million) from the Forestry Ministry's rehabilitation fund and the state 
budget to rehabilitate damaged forest throughout the country.
Indonesia is estimated to have lost 72 percent of its approximately 123.35 
million hectares of ancient rain forest, and half of what remains is 
threatened by commercial logging, frequent forest fires and land clearance 
for palm oil plantations


3.       Politics and Security

Australia renews travel warning despite Indonesian Police arrest of Top JI 
Terrorist Leaders
Just when Indonesia seemed to have unraveled the controversy surrounding the 
EU ban om Indonesian airlines to fly to Europe on account of doubts on their 
safety, now Australia comes up with another travel advisory to Indonesia, 
reinforcing its travel warning for Australians not to visit Indonesia for 
fear of renewed terrorist attacks here.
According to ABC News of 9 July, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) of 
Australia has updated its travel advisory for the region yesterday as it 
continues to advise people to reconsider travelling to the region, but now 
reinforces the terrorist threat.
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says Jemaah Islamiah military 
squad leader Abu Dujana called for more attacks when he was arrested 
recently.
"Abu Dujana (the) terrorist leader who was arrested at the end of last 
month, has made continual calls since his arrest for further terrorist 
attacks and it's a reminder that that problem is not resolved in Indonesia," 
he said. "There is a continuing flow of reporting from Indonesia about 
possible terrorist attacks. "We think it's timely to remind people of that, 
not to become complacent.
 "I think people have allowed Indonesia to slip out of their minds. "Despite 
the excellent work of the Indonesian authorities in recent times, this 
remains a problem" said Downer, quoted by ABC News.

Indonesian Police captured Top Terrorist leaders, who will be tried in Court
Indonesia, however, remains unfazed. In response, the Indonesian Police 
announced that no imminent terror activities had been detected, and that, 
therefore, the public should remain calm.
For despite Australia's recent travel warnings on terrorist attacks in 
Indonesia, so far none has been substantiated.  On the contrary, the 
Indonesian Police should be given kudos and trust for its success and 
ability to pick out and capture top terrorist leaders from among the teeming 
population of Java, preventing them from making other fatal attacks.
Their capture, the Police assured was also due to information received from 
the general public, implying that Indonesia's majority population does not 
agree with terrorism, especially since many Indonesians had themselves 
become victims of terrorists attacks.

In the above statement, Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer was 
referring to the arrests of JI leaders Abu Dujana and Zarkasih by Indonesian 
Police. Over the weekend of 10 June, the Indonesian Police announced that 
they had succeeded in capturing the country's most wanted terrorist - Abu 
Dujana, head of the military wing of the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist network.
Dujana was among at least three people arrested in weekend raids across 
Central Java, Police said.  Although at first the Police insisted that they 
had captured one named Yusron, later, lab identifications confirmed that 
Yusron was an alias used by alleged terrorist Abu Dujana. Dujana was shot in 
the leg when attempting to evade capture.
Indonesian authorities explained that Dujana had replaced Bali bombings 
mastermind Noordin M Top, a Malaysian national, as the country's most wanted 
fugitive.
The weekend arrests followed a series of raids in March, where authorities 
uncovered a huge stash of hundreds of kilograms of explosives, weapons and 
chemicals in the province.
Police also found charts detailing JI's new structure.
Dujana had been sought in connection with several deadly bomb attacks, 
including the 2004 Australian embassy blast and a car bombing at the JW 
Marriot hotel in Jakarta a year earlier.
According to Reuters, Abu Dujana, said to head JI's armed wing, was shown on 
a tape saying that religious figure Abu Bakar Ba'asyir once led the group. 
Another terrorist suspect arrested was Zarkasih. The head of the police's 
Special Detachment 88 anti-terror unit, Brig. Gen. Surya Dharma Salim, said 
that Zarkasih was among seven detained terror suspects originally thought to 
be aides to Dujana.
He said Zarkasih went by several aliases, including Mbah (Javanese for 
Grandfather), Zuhroni, Oni and Abu Irsyad. Surya alleged Zarkasih was in 
charge of all JI operations and activities in Indonesia.
These activities, according to the officer, included hiding convicted 
terrorist Ali Gufron in Legian, Bali; helping the still on the run Noordin 
M. Top and the deceased bomb-maker Azahari bin Husin carry out the 2003 JW 
Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta; and planning the robbery of a Poso city 
administration building in Central Sulawesi, which netted around Rp 480 
million (US$52,876).
Police believe Indonesia's Public is the most effective Intelligence

Following the above arrests, an anti-terror expert called for a nationwide 
movement against terror that urges the public to be on the alert for terror 
suspects.
"The public are the most effective intelligence," said Ansjaad Mbai, head of 
the anti-terror desk at the Office of the Coordinating Minister for 
Political, Legal and Security Affairs, reported the Jakarta Post.
He said that, unfortunately, most often the public was unaware of the 
patterns of terrorists' activities - which include moving to new places, 
getting new identity cards, working as vendors at night - thus failing to 
report them to the authorities.
Ansjaad said ideology-based movements such as Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), which 
seeks to establish an Islamic state in Southeast Asia, could never be 
eliminated thoroughly and public alertness was the most useful way of 
keeping the terrorists' space limited.
"The organization is weak for the moment with the recent arrests, but there 
are always replacements. We could capture all the figures, but still the 
ideology will linger the way it has since rebel movements wishing to create 
an Islamic state in Indonesia emerged decades ago," he told The Jakarta 
Post.
He added that the movement was deep in society and could be easily detected 
and tackled if there was quality public awareness and people paid attention 
to the photographs of terrorists.
Although Police arrested seven terrorist suspects, among whom top JI leaders 
Abu Dujana and Zarkasih, but Noordin M. Top, believed to be the mastermind 
of the bomb attacks, is still fugitive.
"So if you see strange and suspicious activities by newcomers in your area, 
report them. Officials at the district and sub-district levels should be the 
most alert with this," Ansjaad said.
He also asked the public to be active in countering radical agitation in 
society, including in the media or the Internet.

American terrorism analyst Sidney Jones said JI was re-organizing itself 
regularly with new replacements and active proselytizing.
"JI is a very large organization. With Noordin still on the run, it's still 
a dangerous group because Noordin has weapons although the scale of attacks 
it might launch wouldn't be as massive as they once were due to internal 
splits," the director of the International Crisis Group for Southeast Asia 
was quoted as saying by detik.com news portal.
The Indonesian Police assures the public that they continue to monitor those 
areas suspected to be favoured hideaways of terror suspects, as well as 
monitor possible new attacks that were earlier planned, as divulged by the 
most recently captured terrorists, reports the Jakarta Post.

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