[Nasional-e] [Nasional] IBRAHIM ISA -- SELECTED INDONESIAN NEWS --- FW: LN
19-11-2002 Morning
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BALI SUSPECTS TIED TO OTHER BLASTS
ENCIRLING THE SPECIAL FORCES (KOPASSUS) - NETWORK
===================================================
-----Original Message-----
From: O. Mahdi [mailto:oemar@worldonline.nl]
Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2002 7:38 AM
To: Recipient list suppressed
Subject: LN 19-11-2002 Morning
Lydia's Newsbulletin
(Selected Indonesian News)
19-11-2002 Morning Edition
This bulletin is dedicated to the memory of Lydia Klijn, for more than 20
years active member of the Dutch Section of Amnesty International and
responsible for the "Indonesia & Oost-Timor Bulletin", who passed away
on 1-6-2001
Yes, I drove the van: bomber's brother surrenders 1
Family tell of Imam Samudra's 12 years in the shadows 2
Bali Suspects Tied to Other Blasts 4
Encircling the Special Forces Network 6
Indonesia Vice Pres Criticizes Bali Probe As Heavy Handed 7
FACTBOX: Suspects in Bali bombing case 9
Mega won't replace Attorney General MA Rachman 12
Sydney Morning Herald/The Age
November 19, 2002
Yes, I drove the van: bomber's brother surrenders
The man suspected of driving and parking the explosive-laden mini-van
outside
the Sari Club has surrendered to Indonesian police, delivering investigators
their second big breakthrough in the Bali bomb case.
The man, known as Sumarno, has been described as a step-brother or
half-brother to the so-called smiling assassin - the self-confessed bomber
Amrozi.
He turned himself in at the small East Java town of Ngawi at 10am yesterday
and was taken to Surabaya last night for questioning.
Sumarno is regarded as a key figure in the investigation, even though he was
not listed as one of the "Bali six" - those named by police at the weekend
as
Amrozi's main co-conspirators.
Not only is he suspected of having parked the death van, responsible for the
blast that destroyed the Sari Club, but police believe he helped bury an
arms
cache found two weeks ago in East Java - near his brother's house.
Inspector Suwarno of Ngawi police said Sumano had confessed during a
three-hour interview to driving the Mitsubishi L300 van to the Sari Club on
October 12. He said the suspect also admitted driving the van from Surabaya
to Bali with Amrozi. The van was packed with the ingredients that were later
assembled to make the bombs.
Sumano told police that after the blast he had fled to Yogyakarta, near Solo
in Central Java - the home of the alleged leader of the Jemaah Islamiah
movement, Abu Baka Bashir.
There, he hid in the home of his brother-in-law, Muhidin, a local university
lecturer. Muhidin advised him to turn himself in and helped him get legal
representation in Ngawi.
As police intensified their hunt for the Bali six, Indonesian and
international police officers were said to be conducting searches across
East
and Central Java.
The surprising rigour of the police hunt has caused unease in Indonesia's
Muslim circles, with the country's Vice-President, Hamzah Haz, describing
the
raids as heavy-handed. Mr Haz, a hardline Muslim, called for a change in
police tactics, saying raids on Islamic boarding schools should not be
repeated.
The Bali-based investigation team even warned that the six fugitives would
face trail with Amrozi early next year - even if they have not been
captured.
The head of the Indonesian police team, General I Made Mangku Pastika, said
it was likely the terrorists would be charged in absentia in the next few
months, with a court in Denpasar being convened to hear all evidence -
including key witness testimony and forensic data.
Amrozi is likely to face a fresh round of interrogation on Friday, at the
end
of the bi-annual three-day Hindu ceremony of Galungan, a festival
celebrating
the triumph of good against evil.
Despite the fact the Australian Federal Police have been granted observer
status in all interviews with suspects and witnesses, Amrozi has refused
such
access - telling his captors he cannot stand the sight of westerners.
General Pastika said investigators still believed he was holding back
critical details of the plotting, perhaps to minimise his culpability.
Amrozi has steadfastly denied he was in Jalan Legian on October 12, when
bombs tore apart the Sari Club and Paddy's Irish pub, killing more than 180
people. But investigators believe he was the long-haired Indonesian featured
in the first three identikit pictures, released last month.
Police were also seeking to learn the exact words sent in the three SMS
messages to the mobile phones attached to the explosive devices.
"We don't know yet, it must have been very short," General Pastika said. "It
was maybe just hello or hi, or [press] 1."
-----------------------------
Sydney Morning Herald/The Age
November 19, 2002
Family tell of Imam Samudra's 12 years in the shadows
By Matthew Moore, Herald Correspondent in Serang, West Java
The family of the alleged mastermind of the Bali bombings say Imam Samudra
has been out of contact almost completely for 12 years - behaviour they
concede is "very strange" and which they agree could mean he has been
leading
a secret life as a terrorist.
Samudra's older sister, Alyiah, 40, said her brother had only been home once
in that time - a brief visit two years ago to replace his lost identity
card.
She said her brother's real name was Abdul Azis - one of seven aliases
provided by police in information they released on Sunday - and the name all
his friends and neighbours knew him by in the impoverished part of town
where
he grew up.
While they said police accusations against their relative were "defamation",
they conceded he could be a terrorist as police allege. "Possibly," they
said
when asked if the police account was accurate.
His niece Rini, 25, said Samudra's one visit two years ago had been so brief
he had not stayed the night and had spoken only with his mother, telling her
nothing of his life. His sister and niece insisted he had not revealed where
he lived, where he had been for the past decade, what work he did, or
whether
he was married.
But round the corner, 100 metres from their house, Samudra's younger sister,
Yuli, said her brother had returned home from Malaysia about five years ago
with his wife and three children.
Yuli said Samudra was married to a Malaysian, was living in Malaysia at that
time, and had two daughters and one son, the eldest child then about five.
At the time he was teaching religion, although she and the youngest brother
in the family of 12, Dedi, claimed not to know where Samudra was living.
Aliyiah and Rini said the family was shocked. "It's been such a long time
since we have seen him, and suddenly his name appears in the papers." They
said Samudra was like a "lost brother" and they could not explain why he had
not contacted his family.
All family members insisted the sketch released by police on Sunday was not
their brother. However, they agreed a small photograph also released by
police was a shot of their brother's identity card, probably taken several
years ago.
-----------------------------------
Los Angeles Times
November 18, 2002
- front page -
Bali Suspects Tied to Other Blasts
The techno-savvy group of six Indonesians has been linked to deadly church
attacks in 2000. The leader may have trained in Afghanistan.
By Richard C. Paddock
Times Staff Writer
KUTA, Indonesia -- Last month's deadly bombing on the island of Bali was
carried out by a computer-savvy group of Indonesian Muslims with links to
previous anti-Christian terror attacks, police said Sunday.
Providing the most comprehensive picture to date of the group believed
responsible for the Oct. 12 attack that killed 191 people, police said the
operational leader was a university-trained engineer known as Imam Samudra,
who probably learned to make bombs in Afghanistan.
Police Brig. Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika, who is heading the investigation,
released sketches and photographs of six suspects, including Samudra, whom
he
described as the "highly mobile field commander" of the attack.
Pastika said he believes all six are still in Indonesia and appealed to the
public to report their whereabouts.
The general said Samudra was a "calm" and "intellectual" man who stayed in
Bali for four days after the attack to see what police were learning. He has
almost always been seen wearing a hat and carrying a laptop computer case,
Pastika said.
Other alleged participants in the plot include a "genius" electronics expert
and bomb maker, a teacher at an Islamic school who buried a stash of
automatic weapons in the woods near his village and a graduate of an Islamic
school in Malaysia who rented a room in Bali for the group to assemble the
bombs. Two of the six are Indonesians of Arab descent.
Samudra, who was born Abdul Azis, has used at least eight names, police say.
"They change their names every time," Pastika said. "For one operation, one
name."
Samudra has been wanted by Indonesian authorities since early last year for
his alleged role in the bombing of two dozen churches on Christmas Eve 2000.
Nineteen people in 10 cities died in those attacks.
Indonesian police have arrested radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir in
connection with the same church bombings. Bashir denies any part in
terrorism
but is accused of heading Jemaah Islamiah, a regional terror network
believed
responsible for numerous attacks in at least three countries.
Police have yet to produce evidence that Bashir and Samudra know each other,
but Samudra's role in the Bali bombing could be pivotal. Pastika said police
are searching for the "missing link" that could tie Bashir to the bombing
participants.
Police said earlier this year that Samudra had conspired to carry out the
church bombings with Riduan Isamuddin, a close associate of Bashir better
known as Hambali. He is believed to be Jemaah Islamiah's operations leader
and a top Al Qaeda operative who has masterminded terror attacks in
Southeast
Asia for nearly a decade.
In a February interview, police Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf described Samudra and
Hambali as "one team."
Pastika said Samudra went to Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation and
again during the mid-1990s. Samudra also reportedly visited Malaysia while
Bashir and Hambali were living there in self-imposed exile and may have met
them there.
'Soft' Targets
Police suspect that Hambali initiated the Bali bombing. According to a
recent
report in the Asian Wall Street Journal, he convened a meeting of Jemaah
Islamiah leaders in southern Thailand in January and ordered them to attack
"soft" targets, such as nightclubs frequented by Westerners.
Police say they got their biggest break in the Bali investigation when they
traced the chassis number of the minivan used in the attack and arrested the
owner, Amrozi, a co-founder and part-time teacher at the Al-Islam boarding
school in the East Java village of Tenggulun.
Amrozi confessed that he participated in the Bali bomb plot and told police
that he began helping Samudra acquire materials to make bombs in 2000.
According to the police, Amrozi said the two first met to plan the Bali
attack on Aug. 2 in the Central Java town of Solo. Amrozi reportedly said
Samudra instructed him to buy the minivan and chemicals for the attack and
deliver them to Bali.
The money to pay for the materials was delivered by a suspect named Idris,
also known as Jhoni Endrawan, who was the deputy leader of the group and
took
charge of logistical arrangements and disbursing cash, police say.
This month, police focused their investigation on the Al-Islam school in
Tenggulun, which they said was the headquarters of the Bali plot.
But police now say the main suspects are seven militants from different
parts
of Indonesia, including two affiliated with the school -- Amrozi and his
brother, Ali Imron, an Al-Islam teacher who allegedly buried automatic
weapons and ammunition in PVC pipes nearby.
Police are looking for at least two more of Amrozi's brothers connected with
the school, including Gufron, a radical Islamic teacher who allegedly helped
inspire Amrozi to embrace extremist views. By some accounts, Gufron, also
known as Mukhlas, is a top Jemaah Islamiah leader.
Pastika said police reconstructed the Bali attack and concluded that three
bombs went off within 11 seconds of one another, two in the beach town of
Kuta and one in the provincial capital, Denpasar.
Three cellular phones allegedly were rigged as detonators and were triggered
by text messages from another cell phone.
Investigators had said that Ali Imron was the one who detonated the bombs,
but police now believe it was a member of the group known as Dulmatin, an
electronics expert considered by his junior high school teachers to be a
genius.
***
Laksamana.Net
November 18, 2002
Encircling the Special Forces Network
By the Editor
While the security authorities are still preoccupied with the nationwide
hunt
for terrorist suspects in the Bali bombing tragedy, the Attorney General's
Office named special forces (Kopassus) Commander Maj. Gen. Sriyanto over his
role in the killings in Tanjung Priok on 12 September 1984.
Military analysts say the naming of Sriyanto suggests a crucial test for
Kopassus.
Sriyanto was a captain in the North Jakarta Military command in charge as
operational section chief under the direct command of the North Jakarta
Military Commander, Lt. Col. Rudolf Butar-Butar.
Authority for the decision to fire on the Muslim protesters was in the hands
of Armed Forces Commander Gen. L.B. Murdani and Jakarta Military Commander
Maj. Gen. Try Sutrisno. Neither have yet been named in the case, in which
some claim that nearly 400 people died.
Sriyanto is also alleged to have played a role in the May 1998 riots, when
he
was local military commander at Solo in Central Java.
He is a classmate of former Strategic Reserve (Kostrad) Commander Lt. Gen.
Prabowo Subianto.
More significantly, Sriyanto and his superior in 1984, Lt. Col. Butar-Butar,
are closely linked to Try Sutrisno.
The signing of a reconciliation pact or Islah in March 2001, between the
relatives of the Tanjung Priok victims and the military officers involved,
saw Try Sutrisno, Sugeng Subroto, Pranowo, Soekarno, Butar-Butar and H.
Mattani turn out.
This suggested that Try Sutrisno's network was closely connected with former
President Suharto and Murdani and remained powerful. Military officials said
at the time that the group would be carefully monitored by the high brass.
Dr Thamrin Tamagola, who has conducted an intensive study of violence in
Ambon, told a seminar in Jakarta that the regional or district military
commands controlled by officers with links to Kopassus have often been the
locations for covert operations.
The transfer of command of the Maluku region to former Kostrad Second
Division chief Maj. Gen. Djoko Santoso, proved it was possible to bring the
conflict under control, Tamagola said.
The recent case of insubordination shown by the Airborne unit in Binjai,
North Sumatra, strengthens Tamagola's analysis.
North Sumatra Commander Maj. Gen. Idris Gasing was replaced earlier this
month. He is a former classmate of Prabowo and Sriyanto and was deputy
commanding general of Kopassus in 1998.
In Papua, deputy police chief Brig. Gen. Raziman Tarigan disclosed Thursday
(14/11/02) that 11 Kopassus soldiers are implicated in the ambush which
killed two Americans and an Indonesia at the Freeport gold and copper mining
site August 31.
Kopassus troops are also believed to have been involved in the kidnap and
murder of Papua Presidium leader Theys Eluay.
The statement by Tarigan suggests the police are prepared to take on
Kopassus
officials or criminals protected by the unit.
***
Indonesia Vice Pres Criticizes Bali Probe As Heavy Handed
JAKARTA, Nov. 18 (AP)--Indonesia's vice president criticized as heavy handed
the investigation into last month's bombings on Bali island - the first sign
of a political backlash in the world's most populous Muslim nation in the
wake of the attacks.
Hamzah Haz, a hardline Muslim politician who in the past has publicly
courted
several well-known militants, said Monday that police should change the way
they search Islamic boarding schools in their hunt for the suspects.
"I hope raids like the previous ones, which were not pleasant, will not
happen again," said Haz, who before the attacks said there was no terrorism
in Indonesia.
The Oct. 12 blasts killed nearly 200 people, mostly foreign tourists.
Over the past two weeks, police have repeatedly raided the al-Islam boarding
school in Tengullen village in east Java in their hunt for suspects.
They have arrested one man, identified only as Amrozi. His family founded
the
school. At least one other man on a recently released wanted list by police
was a teacher there.
"The police must change the way they conduct raids in their investigation,
so
that they do not cause new problems in the future." He didn't elaborate.
Indonesia is a moderate Muslim country with a long tradition of secular
rule.
Islamic parties, while controlling a third of the legislature, have little
influence in everyday life.
Some Muslim politicians have tried to capitalize on rising anti-American
sentiments in the country since the Sept. 11 attacks in America and the
U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.
They have largely been quiet since the Bali blasts. Most Indonesians are
outraged over the bombings.
On Sunday, around 1,000 people protested against the arrest of Abu Bakar
Bashir, the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional terror group
that intelligence agencies suspect in the bombings.
Bashir runs a large boarding school, also on Java island, but denies any
links to terrorism. He was arrested over a string of bomb blasts in 2000.
Haz said the raids were creating "anxiety."
"Don't let there be an impression that (these schools) are terrorist dens,"
said Haz, who heads the Muslim-based United Development Party.
Police on Bali said Sunday at least six men believed responsible for the
deadly blasts were hiding out in "sensitive places" within Indonesia.
On Monday, an intelligence source on the island said officers believed the
men were hiding out in religious boarding schools, known as pesantren.
"We are convinced the suspects are hiding in pesantren," said the
intelligence source who asked not to named. "This will make it difficult."
There are hundreds of thousands of Islamic boarding schools spread out
across
the archipelago. Some teach a hardline brand of Islam. Many are isolated and
are rarely inspected by education officials.
-----------------------
FACTBOX: Suspects in Bali bombing case
BALI, Indonesia Nov 18 (Reuters) - Indonesian police have identified seven
suspects over last month's Bali bombings that killed nearly 200 people, most
of them foreign tourists.
Three bombs exploded on the night of October 12, two almost simultaneously
in
the Kuta Beach area: the first at Paddy's Irish Pub which police believe was
left on a table or chairs near the dance floor. The second, and main blast,
occurred across the street in front of the popular Sari club and was
concealed in a Mitsubishi van.
A third bomb exploded about 45 to 60 seconds later in another area of Bali,
near the U.S. consulate. It was apparently triggered by remote control. No
one was injured in that blast.
Here are details on the seven suspects:
-----------
1. AMROZI
Age: Police say he is around 40, family says 35.
Ethnic group: Javanese from Lamongan, East Java.
Employment: Mechanic.
Role: The first suspect named by police and the only one arrested so far,
captured on November 5. He confessed to being a key player in the attack,
saying he owned the minivan used as a car-bomb which destroyed the Sari Club
and bought most of the explosives for it. He was a student of detained
Muslim
cleric Abu Bakar Bashir -- the alleged spiritual head of Southeast Asian
militant group Jemaah Islamiah arrested over a series of church bombings in
Indonesia on Christmas eve 2000 and a plot to kill President Megawati
Sukarnoputri.
Amrozi has seven siblings and five-step siblings, one of whom is a suspect
in
the Bali attack and two others have been linked to the blast and questioned
by police.
-----------
2. IMAM SAMUDRA
Alias: Fatih, Fat, Kudama, Abdul Aziz, Abu Umar and Heri.
Age: 35.
Ethnic group: Sundanese from Tasikmalaya, West Java.
Employment: Computer expert.
Features: Moustachioed, often wears a hat and carries a laptop computer bag.
Role: Field coordinator who decided where to put the bombs and stayed in
Bali
several days after the blasts. He also chaired meetings in central Java to
plan the Bali bombings. He is described as the most intellectual of the
group
and learned how to make bombs during visits to Afghanistan. He is also a
suspect for the 2000 Christmas Eve bombings in the capital Jakarta and
outlying provinces of Riau and West Java.
-----------
3. DULMATIN
Alias: Amar Usman, Muktamar, Djoko Supriyanto.
Age: 32.
Ethnic group: Javanese Arabic from Pemalang, Central Java.
Employment: Second-hand car dealer.
Features: Thin moustache, sharp facial features.
Role: Electronics expert who helped assemble the bombs but whose key role
was
to detonate them by cellular phone. A former teacher described him as a
genius.
-----------
4. IDRIS
Alias: Jhoni Hendrawan, Gembrot (meaning plump).
Age: 35.
Ethnic group: Minangkabau or Malay but lives in Sidoarjo, East Java.
Employment: Entrepreneur.
Features: Pot-bellied, full cheeks.
Role: Deputy field coordinator, fund raiser for the attack, initial
co-planner with Amrozi and Samudra, and former student of an Islamic school
in Johor, Malaysia.
-----------
5. UMAR
Alias: Wayan.
Age: 35.
Ethnic group: Flores, an island east of Bali.
Employment: Unknown.
Features: Round-shaped face, moustache.
Role: Believed to have planted the bomb in Paddy's Irish Pub. Known to be
able to assemble bombs and said to have lived in Bali for some time due to
his alias, which is a typical Balinese name.
-----------
6. UMAR
Alias: Patek.
Age: 35.
Ethnic group: Javanese Arabic, with addresses in the central Java cities of
Solo, Yogyakarta and Pemalang.
Employment: Unknown.
Features: Speaks fluent Javanese, thin moustache.
Role: Low in the hierarchy of field operators. Helped ferry at least one
suspect from the scene by motorbike which he later parked at the nearby Al
Ghuroba mosque.
-----------
7. ALI IMRON
Alias: Alik.
Age: 30.
Ethnic group: Javanese from Lamongan, East Java.
Employment: A brother of key suspect Amrozi and a teacher at the Al-Islam
boarding school in Amrozi's village in Lamongan, East Java.
Features: Moustache, slightly built.
Role: Police initially thought he parked the bomb-laden minivan in front of
the Sari Club but later said he was a courier for various people and items
related to the attack. He has also been linked to a small cache of weapons
found near Lamongan and explosive materials used in the eastern Indonesian
city of Ambon which has been riven by Muslim-Christian clashes in recent
years.
***
The Jakarta Post [online]
November 18, 2002
Mega won't replace Attorney General MA Rachman
JAKARTA (JP): President Megawati Soekarnoputri said on Monday that she would
not replace M.A. Rachman as an attorney general despite his recent scandal,
Antara reported.
"Installing a new attorney general does not guarantee that i will not create
another problems in the future," Mega was quoted by Nusron Wahid, the head
of
the Indonesian Islam Students Movements (PMII) on Monday.
Attorney General M.A. Rachman made headlines for the last couple of weeks
for
allegedly giving false wealth report to the Public Servants' Wealth Audit
Commission (KPKPN).
He failed to report several of his houses in his wealth list to the
commission. He has been questioned by the commission.
-------------------
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